Car Repair & The Responsible Parent

When you're a parent, getting car repair performed is part of your oath as a responsible parent. Once you bring a bundle of joy or two into the world, you're not just looking out for your own wellbeing; you're protecting your offspring. From birth till the day they graduate from high school, moms and dads better be proactive with their automotive maintenance tasks or they'll be sorry. Here are some things to think about.

- Birth: If you're a dad-to-be or a mom-to-be, the birth of a baby requires a ride to the hospital. When the labor pains strike in the middle of the night, do you really want to walk across town or take the bus to meet your obstetrician at the hospital? Do you want Junior to be born in a cab? If not, keep your vehicle in tiptop shape with routine car repair.

- Preschool years: Transporting your sweet three year old to daycare as you go to work will be a bit difficult without a fully functioning automobile. Even for non-working parents, taking wee ones to the library, on play dates and to the store to purchase groceries for their breakfasts, lunches and dinners will be crucial. You don't want to be hitchhiking to drop them at their Montessori School enrichment program.

- Elementary school: Kindergarten through sixth grade is a time of rich learning opportunities including academics and social rules. Being on time is one of them. A non-functioning sedan will make your sons and daughter tardy for which they'll have to miss recess time and will be marked as irresponsible by their teachers and classmates. Get a tune-up and drive them to the schoolhouse on time.

- High school: Teens watch their parents' habits more than they listen to them. If a lad or lassie is raised in a house where cars are well maintained, they will likely be responsible car owners, too. If their parents can't be bothered and have a squeaky, smoky vehicle to move from Point A to Point B because of mere negligence, it is a guarantee that the kiddos won't respect their own vehicle when they have one or Mom's and Dad's when they're borrowing it for the night. Monkey see, monkey do.

- Graduation: When the little girls and guys have finally finished high school, turned eighteen and are considered a full-fledged adult, they may buy their own car or get one as a gift from a rich relative. If you want them to be safe on the road, protect their valuable automotive asset and not have to pay for pricey repairs due to neglected maintenance, you better have set a stellar example.

Taking care of one's vehicle is always an important thing. Once a mom or dad has a child or two, the responsibility has quadrupled. If they want their kids to be born at a hospital instead of in the back of a cab, be well fed, punctual, responsible and live a good life as an adult, parents better set a good example and mind their Ps and Qs of preventative maintenance and car repair.