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It Can Wait, My Son. Texting Can Wait…

This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with AT&T and Latina Bloggers Connect. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

As first time parents of a teenager, I am walking blindly on uncharted territory. Hoping and praying, with each careful step, that I’m doing the right thing for my son.  Jeremiah is less than one month from turning 15, a little over six months from getting a provisional permit for driving and three years from officially getting his license.  Wow. Reading that kinda scared me! This is a lot to handle.  But, is he ready?  Am I ready?

Just don’t text and drive.  77 percent of teens have seen their parents text and drive, and 75 percent say it is “common” among their friends.

My son has recently been bitten with the ‘car’ bug.  Meaning, he’s currently infatuated with cars.  He is leaning towards the Drifting side of driving and as a mom, I can only sit back and nod my head when he goes on and on about slamming his car and the out-of-this world expensive upgrades.  I pray that this is just another phase.  My husband is a great driver and is currently looking for a friend who has a stick-shift car, that way he can teach my son how to drive a manual car.

90% of teen drivers say they’d stop if a friend in the car asked them to; while 93 percent would stop if a parent in the car asked them to.

While all that is fun and games, I, as the nurturer, am in charge of teaching him the rules of the road.  This is an easy one, since he’s with me the majority of the time.  Little by little, we’ve been talking about some rules, as we encounter something unusual on the road.  It may be something as simple as what to do when a traffic light is broken and how to handle pedestrians when there’s no crosswalk on the ground.

Passengers have an impact … speaking up is key.

Then there’s the issue with texting and driving. Oh boy, this is this a tough one to handle.  Have I set the right example?  Have I been a good “driving” role model?  Is he prepared to handle the responsibility of being a teenage driver?

All those questions come to play when we get into the car and drive off somewhere and my phone starts pinging and ponging with email and texts alerts. As a hard-core blogger, these distractions are hard to ignore.  But it has to be done. My son and I are taking up a new lifestyle when it comes to safe driving.  I mention lifestyle, because just like having the phone with us where ever we go has become a lifestyle, so can this!

The #ItCanWait initiative

AT&T has launched an aggressive social media campaign to encourage all of us (yes, that mean you and me) to take the pledge and share their promises with everyone we encounter, via social media.  Do you have to be a AT&T customer? Nope!  Anyone can join the effort. ANYONE!

Información en español

Grab your teens and take a positive step towards better driving in three easy steps:

Take a look at this heartbreaking video:

Let’s not become desensitized to texing and diving.  As parents, we can’t think this will never happen to us, because it IS happening.Take the pledge.

I did!

Liz-signature-familyisfamilia

 

 

 

Liz Cerezo

Liz is a Mexican-American blogger living in Southern California. Married 19 years, and a mami to 3 kids, her content is inspired from living in and raising a multicultural familia. Liz has been blogging for more than 7 years, establishing herself as a nationally recognized Latina blogger. She often blogs in Spanglish and may throw in some Tagalog when talking about her hubby. You can also find her chit chatting away at @Liz_Cerezo on Twitter!

1 Comment

  1. Maybelline @ Naturalmente Mamá

    The video is truly heartbreaking but eye opening. This type of campaigns are so important because they show the ugly side, what can actually happen if you text and drive so hopefully it makes people think twice about doing it.

    23 . Aug . 2013

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