Parent of a teenager tip:
Want some quality time with your almost-adult kid? Plan a day at the DMV!
The Division of Motor Vehicles is a surefire way to ensure hours together with nothing else to do but talk to one another and bond. Just be sure to act totally understanding of your teen’s annoyance at the fact that he might need to spend hours on his summer break getting a mistake corrected that the good folks at the DMV made! Don’t let on to the fact that this day is as exciting to you as when he was 4 years-old and you spent the whole day at the local waterpark and you were the center of his universe (insert bawling here).
When we realized several months ago that the ever-competent DMV had spelled my son’s name wrong on his driver’s license, I put off going to get it corrected until the summer. We had much more time to waste a few hours of our lives during our summer break rather than roll our butts out of bed on a Saturday during the school year.
So the dreaded task took place yesterday. Neither of us were particularly excited for this excursion. But then the thought occurred to me. This is uninterrupted time with my boy! Just him and me and 100 disgruntled strangers.
As the many stages of waiting occurred, I feigned annoyance at the complete inconvenience of this all as I took every opportunity to make this a mommy and me outing.
Arrival: Wait outside building for security to let us in. Chat about his morning at work, the next show to binge watch…(mom’s heart smiles!)
Check in desk: Get name change paper, go wait on another line. Those smartypants know what they’re doing though! That was the second half of the line - they SPLIT the line! We were about 10 people back from the “front” of the line, but the rest of the line was in another area to which we’d be herded off to when we got to the front of the fake line. While waiting, we start a friendly competition of what time we will leave the DMV.
Son adds: “I hate the DMV.”
Mom: “Welcome to adulthood. Wait til tax season.”
Conversation starts about saving for a car, what kind of car he would like, senior parking privileges…(mom’s heart is happy!)
Document check: Just when we think we’ve reached Oz, when the real line acknowledged us as the next victim, my son’s documents get checked, but it’s not over, folks. We are told to once again…wait. Have a seat until our number is called. This number was professionally scrawled on a ripped post-it note by a guy who talked about the deliciousness of pineapple on pepperoni pizza.
Son: “That guy needs to stop talking, he’s holding up the line.”
Mom: “Agreed. Plus it sounds disgusting.”
Conversation starts about the positives and negatives of pineapple and pepperoni pizza, the amazing buffalo chicken pizza that he wants for dinner… (mom’s heart is singing…)
Corral of seats: Watch and listen as numbers are called haphazardly, in no particular sensical order just to completely screw with us victims.
That’s fine, DMV. This just gives me MORE time with my baby! We watch videos on my phone of two brothers who do all kinds of fun tricks and we talk about recreating some of these at home, scroll through old pictures on phone, remember vacations, Kindergarten, baseball games....
To Be Continued…Oh yes, trust me, the saga continues. It is the DMV, afterall.
