The rubber hit the road

When I had my first daughter the hospital required I watch a few parenting videos before I left with her to make sure I knew the basics of caring for an infant. I appreciated that they cared and took the information, along with all that I had gleaned in my 23 years and went home with my baby. Everything was great until I found one key piece of information that had never occurred to me and no one had prepared me for. My vehicle would never. be. the. same. As my baby got older the carpets of my car were introduced to barf, milk, juice, and every kind of snack that can be crushed into a soft surface. I finally wised up and purchased rubber mats for my car and have never looked back. When I got my current car that was the first thing I bought after I got the keys. My rubber mats got a spa treatment this week!

Supplies were very simple this time, dish soap and a scrub brush. I had a skinny brush that was able to get in all the small spaces in the rubber mats. 

I scrubbed the mats, sprayed them off and left them to dry in the sun. I took the opportunity to vacuum out my car really well while the mats were out of the way. 

Before 

                                                                               After

Did you know that rubber comes from trees? It's true!

I found thinking about self-determination, motivation, and autonomy really interesting both to my chosen occupation and to vehicle ownership in general. Many people have very strong feelings about what make and model of car they think is best. I have always had great experiences with Toyotas'. The things I care most about in a car is that it's reliable and gets good gas mileage but others might have strong feelings about the color or speed of their car. I have the choice to get the kind of car I think is best while my neighbor across the street chooses to drive a big truck so he can pull his trailer for work. The reasons we decide to drive the specific cars we do depends on our past experience, economic opportunity and personality.

I think the kind of car we drive has more to do with choice but the way we experience our car is a decision. What kind of music we play, who rides in it, the conversations we engage in, and how we take care of it are all part of our autonomy in vehicle ownership. 

Reference

Tracey Parnell, Gail Whiteford & Clare Wilding (2019) Differentiating occupational decision-making and occupational choice, Journal of Occupational Science, 26:3, 442-448, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2019.1611472