We parents like to argue about a lot of stuff. Perhaps you’ve noticed?
From the moment of conception, there are any number of parenting debates you can unsuspectingly find yourself in the middle of —drugs versus no drugs in labor, breastfeeding versus formula, crib versus co-sleeping.
The list is long, and can be as difficult to navigate as a minefield.
Many people I know try to steer clear of the contentious issues that a lot of parents seem to have strong opinions about, and are all too willing to share.
But, there is one critical parenting debate that I’ve found that seems to draw out even the controversy-adverse parents—minivans.
Last week I saw a photo posted on Facebook by George Takei (of Star Trek fame) that read, “Condoms Prevent Minivans.”
After an honest to goodness LOL (laugh-out-loud), I promptly re-shared it, and watched my Facebook notifications light up.
For the record, I am an unabashed lover and owner of a minivan.
I didn’t have much of a cool factor to lose to begin with (shocking, I know), so I personally jumped for joy when we drove that miracle of multi-functional engineering home from the lot.
But before your eyes roll too far back into your head, factor in that I had been rocking the early 1990s compact sedan I got when I graduated from college, with two babies and all their stuff. I even somehow found a double stroller that fit in what I called my magical bottomless “Mary Poppins trunk.”
When offered the opportunity, I willingly—giddily even—sold out, and capitulated to the car that inspires venomous scorn in so many of my peers.
I didn’t, and don’t care.
No more wedging my kids into their car seats next to goliaths, parked ridiculously crookedly or close to my itty-bitty car. No more getting soaked in the rain, while I wrestle, half in and half out of a car door, with coats and car seats.
No matter which direction I am parked, a door beautifully slides open with the touch of a button. And oh my goodness, two words: seat heaters.
And, even if all that hadn’t convinced me, the day I folded down the third row, popped out my kids’ seats and fit an entire bunk bed and dresser into the back, earned this tragically unhip mom's undying loyalty, to a minivan.
