Opening doors inside the car
Don Booker MBE reveals what happens behind closed car doors
One of life’s well-used comments is ‘one does not know what happens behind closed doors’. Well, now Renault UK is asking ‘what really happens behind car doors?’ with a new family survey that has revealed parents use driving with their children to encourage discussion on serious family matters.
The pattern of life has changed drastically in the past decade with fewer children seen on our streets and the majority are driven to school, dancing classes or sports activities. Most parents drive their children about on more than eight occasions a week which means there is plenty of talk time. While this way of life is often criticised, the Renault survey has shown the importance of family time in the car as a place of honest conversations and story-telling, with British parents literally going round the houses to discuss serious – and awkward- topics with their kids.
Computer screens and games are now part of young lives and parents think conversations with their children are far more honest in the car than anywhere else.
The study found that the family car is becoming a travelling confessional with over half of youngsters
more likely to open up about topics such as what happened at school or college, and trouble with friends, when mum and dad are behind the wheel. Why so much free speech from the young? Nearly half of parents interviewed believe this honesty is down to their children not being under judgemental stare and some think it is because their children can’t immediately be ‘sent to their room’. It appears it is not just parents who are wise of the benefits of using a car as a place for talking openly, but also children. Youngsters appear to pick their moment in the car to admit to not doing well in certain lessons or the occasional forgetfulness to do homework, as well as getting into trouble with a teacher and having detention and ‘lines’. Away from school life, a third of parents find it easier to talk about delicate subjects with children out on the road. Over half said they found it easier to instigate awkward topics such as the ‘birds and the bees’ in the car so they do not have to engage in eye-contact.
One in ten parents has deliberately gone on a car journey in a bid to get their children to talk. With the lack of family conversation and meal time chatter these days, parents learn more about their children
in a car than they do at home and often reconnect as a family. Parents feel their children are more comfortable addressing deeper and more personal issues if they are not under the spotlight. This means mum and dad’s attention is focused on the road and so can’t be under their watchful eye which makes it easy to open up.
The survey was told that parents listen more in the car than at home due to fewer distractions such as cooking or children playing on games consoles and tablets – they literally have to talk to each other to pass the time – and for some, it is the only time where conversations can happen distraction-free. It was French car-maker Renault who introduced the family people carrier, the Scenic, and I remember testing the car in France when there was much talk about how much sporting gear it could
carry...including an archery target. But there was no mention of family chatter.
Now they have introduced the fourth generation of Scenic and Grand Scenic with starting prices at £21,605 which will cause much talk in the motoring world. There is so much to catch the eye in the newcomer that there will be less time to natter.
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