Are We Nearly There Yet? The Sequel

Are we nearly there yet? is a phrase that has been around for as long as there has been children and vehicles. Every single child in the world will ask on a journey, usually 5 minutes into a journey, Are we nearly there yet? And you can distract them and tell them yes nearly and you get through the journey. My daughter would ask quite frequently. Surprisingly I am not sure my son has ever asked that specific question but in true sequel style he has stuck to a similar theme, while also adding some crazy new ingredients to take this line of questioning in a wildly unpredictable direction trying to be bigger, better and more in depth. His questions on a journey are around the are we there yet theme but are more inquisitive, more incessant, more relentless. More more more just like a sequel.

Our journey to and from Menorca is a great example of this. On the plane he was obsessed with where we were.

Are we in France now?

Are we in Spain now?

Are we in Menorca?

And with each answer I gave he then shouted it out to everyone else at the top of his voice. It was a constant running commentary as to where we were.

The transfer bus that picked us up was an hour of constant questions.

“How many minutes until we are there?”

“How many miles until we are there?”

“What is the speed limit on this road?”

“How fast are we going?”

“How many roundabouts are on this road?”

“What number roundabout is this?”

“How fast are we going?”

“How many minutes until we are there?”

It was relentless. With every answer I gave, another question was asked. I was trying to answer the questions but also keep count of the roundabouts. And let me tell you there was a lot of roundabouts!!!!

A friend of ours had come on holiday with us and I could see he was laughing, and slightly amazed at the extent of the questions. When you first meet my son he is fairly quiet and it takes him a long time before he will show his real self and ask his many many questions so this was an eye opener for our friend. He was absolutely amazed!!

I have found that journeys are easier if my son knows where are we going, how long until we get there, and if you can show him it thats even better. Countless journeys I have been on with him and after a while I realized if I gave him my phone with Google maps on with the destination loaded in, he would sit and watch the green truck (his choice of vehicle) moving along the screen. It tells him how many miles are left and how many minutes until we reach the destination. This started out as helping him and that’s great but helpfully he also lets us all know exactly how minutes we have left shouting out “40 minutes left”, “39 minutes left”, “38 minutes left” until we get to the end!!! You think you have it bad with “Are we nearly there yet” you dont even know you are born. Come and try a journey with my son and you will sharp go back to answering are we nearly there yet?

One journey we went on where we didnt really have a end goal was a pedalo in the sea on holiday. There was no destination, no time, no distance we could measure and immediately my son was agitated. He was almost on the brink of a panic attack…

“WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

“HOW LONG UNTIL WE GET THERE?”

“STEER RIGHT MAM. STEER LEFT MAM. WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

It was stressful. And I didn’t immediately know why. It was only after we got back to shore that I realized he didn’t like it because there was no end goal. There was no destination. No measure of anything. Just having fun. And this journey was not fun. For him or any of us.

So how does this sequel end….and will there be a trilogy?!? I’m absolutely sure there will be because we aren’t there yet. We don’t fully understand my son’s mindset completely but every experience like the pedalo is a learning curve for us and next time we go on a pedalo we will be more prepared. We may not actually be there yet but we are getting there……