Did you think I’d found fame and fortune with my radio interview and abandoned you? No fame or fortune yet, and I’m certainly not going anywhere! I have been busy, though, with all the emails that this interview has generated. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to it, be sure to while it’s still up. (I’m going to see if I can get a copy for my own use.) I’ve had emails from people who listened to it who said they found it valuable, even though their children were not yet teenagers.
I had two very interesting emails from people who had products that they wanted me to tell you about because they thought it would benefit teens or people with Attention Deficit Disorder. I have taken a look at their websites, and agree that what they have is worth sharing. Since I think each of them deserves their own “space”, I’ll tell you about one this time and the other next time. And remember, I’m not making any money from promoting these sites; I just think they’re worth sharing.
Jim Rogenmoser is the President of Teen Driving Watch, a company devoted to “Helping teen drivers reach the goal of becoming responsible motorists.” Teen Driving Watch’s concept is simple and ingenious. As Jim notes on his home page, if you were driving down the street and saw a police car in your rear view mirror, wouldn’t you drive with greater caution, knowing you were being monitored? Of course you would!
Well, Jim took that concept and figured out a way to apply it to teen-aged drivers. Did you know that 4 out of every 10 teens that dies in the next 12 months will have died as a result of an automobile accident that they were responsible for, and that auto crashes are the #1 cause of death among teenagers 15-19? You can see why it’s so important to do everything we can to keep all of our teen drivers safe, but as parents of teens with Attention Deficit Disorder, our teens are especially vulnerable. Inattention and distractibility become much bigger concerns when our kids are behind the wheel.
When you enroll in the program, you receive a bumper sticker that you attach to your teen’s car. The bumper sticker contains an 800 number and an ID number particular to your child. If anyone in the community sees the driver of that car driving in a reckless or irresponsible manner, all they have to do is dial the 800 number, put in the ID number, and leave a voice mail message regarding what they saw. The voice mail is immediately forwarded to you via phone numbers and/or email addresses that you specify. As one police officer put it, “It’s like Neighborhood Watch on wheels.”
Jim’s program also includes a written and verbal contract that parent and child agree to abide by. These kinds of contracts can be very powerful tools for parents, spelling out what behavior is expected and the consequences if the contract is not followed.
Stop by Jim’s site and take a look around. I think you’ll be impressed.