Preteen weighs in on car buying

It's never easy buying a car.

It's even harder when your 12-year-old daughter is intent on making sure that mom and dad don't buy a vehicle that doesn't fit her style.

Becca is only three years away from getting behind the wheel for some parentally supervised driving. She's already excited.

Joni and I have been car shopping recently. We still haven't made up our minds, but Becca is doing her best to make up our minds for us.

She was appalled when I casually suggested the other day that we might want to consider buying another minivan. We already have a well-worn, red minivan.

We're looking to replace our passenger car. Becca doesn't think we need another van. Besides, she's convinced that minivans just aren't cool anymore.

She has her heart set on an SUV, the vehicle of choice apparently for the preteen crowd. She's convinced that anything less than an SUV would be a family disaster. Translation: She wants to drive an SUV in three years.

I've never owned a four-wheel drive vehicle. I'm not sure I need one. I don't plan to drive it up a mountain or across a snow-covered field or even hunt in it.

Still, I'm sure it's a power trip to get behind the wheel of a SUV, particularly if it comes fully loaded with important accessories such as a DVD player and monitor so that passengers like Becca don't have to actually look at the scenery.

Of course, they're expensive. It takes money to be cool behind the wheel and garner the approval of car-conscious sixth graders.

But then if we all have SUVs, maybe there is no need to cancel school because of the snow.

My kids love snow days, those unscheduled vacations from the classroom.

Students know when a snow storm approaches. It's the subject of excited conversations with friends.

A popular children's movie a few years ago centered on students' efforts to get a snow day by keeping a mean-spirited snowplow driver from clearing the streets.

Naturally, my kids loved the movie.

Like many children, Becca has been known to go to bed praying for snow.

Her prayers were answered recently when a winter storm closed Cape Girardeau public schools for a day.

Becca's younger sister, 8-year-old Bailey, likes to dig in the snow.

She likes to fire a few snowballs in my direction, too.

In class, she wrote a story about a "snowgirl" who was melting. The "snowgirl" was saved by a girl who stuck the snow figure in the freezer and, according to Bailey, "they lived happily ever after."

Getting through the snow isn't Bailey's concern. She's not busy thinking about what kind of car mom and dad will buy.

I think she'll be happy with whatever we choose.

Becca, however, won't find it a happy ending if we buy a car that doesn't conform to her style.

And even if we do buy a high-powered SUV with four-wheel drive, one thing is for certain: Becca still will want her snow days even if we could get her to school in the worst blizzard.

Of course, Becca would say that such a vehicle would offer a perfect way to get to the local mall. Even on snow days -- as any sixth-grade girl will tell you -- one can always go shopping.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian