Dear Kid,

Why do people wear driving gloves?

Because socks would be dumb? That’s a lame answer.

But there is no question that driving gloves look much cooler than big honkin’ winter mittens. DearKidLoveMom.comBecause you need something relevant to put in the glove box? (Yes, back in the day [and by “in the day” I mean when cars were first invented and no one had thought to put a roof on them] people wore goggles and gloves and then stowed the gloves in—wait for it—the glove box. No word on why no one has invented the iPod box or the sunglasses box.)

These days, not that many people wear driving gloves.

Most of us don’t have to worry about exceptional grip on our steering wheel. We don’t have to worry about the tiny vibrations of the car throw us off the road.

We don’t worry about letting our oily hands touch our high grade leather and possibly ruin it. For most of us, finger prints are the least of our car maintenance worries. Fingerprints don’t even begin to compare to dealing with the odor of dead sweatshirt and well-aged coffee cups.

Presumably good driving gloves help keep your hands cool in warm weather and warm in cool weather. As far as I’m concerned, air conditioning keeps my hands cool in warm weather and big honkin’ winter mittens keep my hands warm (or at least less frozen) in cold weather.

But there is no question that driving gloves look much cooler than big honkin’ winter mittens.

Love, Mom