By Sara Chandler June 22, 2022
Good Luck, Truck is my first children’s book. When our first son, Colin, was born, we lived near Washington, DC. We often heard fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, airplaines, and construction vehicles. After being scared (Colin) and angry (me) the first couple of times the sirens suprised him or woke him up, I decided to change my approach and dialogue with my son. These vehicles were doing so much good. They were saving lives; they were helping our community. I changed my reaction, attitude, and words toward the loud noises to create an environment that showed respect and grattitude. With these sirens and noises, the vehicles were announcing that they were helping people!
The next step was getting Colin involved. Every time we heard a fire truck siren, I would pick him up, run to the window and exclaim, “Good luck, truck!” We were cheering them on. Pretty soon, when he heard the sirens, Colin would run to me with a smile and his arms in the air, and we would wish the trucks good luck together. To this day, Colin has excited admiration for “helping vehicles” and their different sounds. When he hears an airplane overhead, he waves happily until he can’t hear it anymore. His little brother Zachary, does the same.