So here is the thing about peer-pressure, it never really ends. This seemingly small fact has caught me off guard. I can honestly say, when I was a child, I thought adults were impervious.
I guess I was wrong.
My girls are a bit ........ hmmmm, how to put this nicely, um, competitive? They are competitive. We were driving in the car the other day when my little 4-year-old peanut gallery began to speak.
"Mom? Are you going fast?"
"Mom? Are you going fast?"
"MOM? Are you going FAST?"
"Yes, I am going fast."
"Are we going to pass that car mom? Let's go fast enough to pass that car."
"Let's go fast mom."
"Pass the car mom."
"MOM. GO FAST SO WE CAN PASS THAT CAR."
"Girls, we don't need to pass the car. We are going fast enough."
"Mom, that car is going to pass us."
"Mom, don't let that car pass us."
"Mom, he's getting ahead of us. HE'S BEATING US!!!!"
(slight pause as our crushing defeat takes hold)
.....
"Mom, are we going to win?"
"Are we going to win mom?"
(This is a question that comes up every day. What they mean is, are we going to be the first to get where ever it is we are going or are "they" going to beat us. The underlying assumption here is that everyone on the road is in fact going the same place we are going and "they" want to get there first.)
"Girls I don't know. Not all of these cars are going to your pre-school." (We were at the time going to pre-school.)
They pause while they process this new information. And, at this point you think, "Wow, she is really handling this thing well. Way to not fold under the pressure." Please read on.
"Let's win mom. Look we passed that car. Yea mom!"
"There is another car. Let's see if we can pass that car mom. Go faster mom!"
(It is here that I must admit I can feel my resolve weakening. After all, I DID pass that one car.)
"YEA MOM!!"
"WE PASSED HIM!"
"LET'S GET THERE FIRST MOM!" (Lesson number one of the day was a dismal failure.)
"DON'T LET HIM PASS US!"
"YEA, HE DIDN'T PASS US!"
"Mom, are you going fast?"
"YOU'RE GOING FAST MOM!"
"MOM, YOU'RE GOING TO WIN!!!!!!"
What I am going to win has never been fully discussed. To be perfectly honest it hasn't even been partially discussed but as I looked down I noticed I was going 65 miles an hour in a 40 mile an hour zone. I am a victim of the dread 4-year-old peer pressure. I hang my head in shame.
