Metaphorical Interpretations

Let's interpret this crazy dream I had last night.

JD was driving a car down a country-ish road. I was sitting in the backseat, enjoying the scenery, enjoying the ride, until it hit me like a ton of bricks, "Oh my fucking God, my not-yet four year old is driving this fucking *car*." I distinctly noticed that his feet couldn't even reach the brake pedal. I started to freak out. I started to frantically (and rather loudly) try to tell him what to do; as soon as he understood that I was freaking out, he started freaking out, and he started faltering. Then he had an accident. Luckily, it was only a little bump into the fender of the car ahead of us, nobody was hurt. But *then* I started freaking out bc--OMG, the ramifications of it all when it all comes out that I was letting my not-yet four year old DRIVE THE FREAKING CAR. So I quickly jumped into the front seat and literally sat on him, to try to hide him, like, before anyone saw him. I fooled nobody, but the guy he hit decided no harm, no foul, and we drove off without even exchanging information. I had the distinct impression that he felt kind of sorry for me, or didn't want to, like, cause me any unpleasantness or something, I don't quite know how to describe it. Like, your friend gets diagnosed with some crappy disease, so you don't ever again bring up the large sum of money try borrowed from you. Like that kind of feeling.

So. I've been deconstructing the dream throughout the day, and I've come up with two possible metaphorical interpretations. The first being, Duh, you let your not-yet four year old drive the car. He's running your LIFE, man.

That was the first thought i had upon waking up. But the dream kept coming back to me throughout the day, and the more i thought about it, the less obvious that "interpretation" seemed. You see, yeah, he was driving the car, but he was doing fine. He was doing fine until I freaked out and started trying to tell him how to do it. He was doing fine until I started trying to run his show, get up in his grill, micro-manage his business. He was doing fine when he was figuring it out for himself, and I was sitting there with him, keeping him company and enjoying the ride. He was doing fine.

And that's the best parenting advice my subconscious has ever given myself.