The roads in and out out of all of the nation’s major cities are grid locked as a result of this mass migration, as cars full of parents and children sit bumper to bumper in the heat, hitting the road after Christmas.
The National Roads and Motorists’ Association, known as NRMA has confirmed to the Advocate that not only is this the most dangerous time of the year due to high traffic and weariness, but drivers are to be warned that there will be a high proportion of children wreaking havoc in back seats for the majority of the day.
A statement from the organisation said that “most of the trouble will be caused by smart arse older brothers winding their siblings up.”
Paul and Trish, parents of three children, who live and work in Brisbane, spoke to our reporters about their commute back to Betoota to spend Christmas with their extended family.
“Andrew has been a little fucking shit for the last three hours,” Paul told us.
“Andrew (9) was fine for the first little while. The traffic was pretty bad, but he was looking out the window, talking about school. Asking questions about the things he saw.”
“But then. The scenery got pretty boring. The gas-fields wests of Chinchilla aren’t exactly stimulating. In some parts it looks like Slavic countryside – but in 40 degree heat.”
“Anyway, Andrew starts winding his brother and sister up to the point where one of them starts crying and I have to do the whole; “Mate you will be bloody walking if you keep it up.”
Paul said he couldn’t believe Andrew actually believed that he would kick him out.
The NRMA said that this is actually a pretty common tactic that has notable success across the country.
“Yeah, the threat has to come from whoever is the hard kind of parent. If you have two wowser-softly-softly kind of parents you really struggle to get it to have any impact. But if you play it right, it can be a great parenting tool to get them to behave.”
