My 12-year-old Son Suggested We Take The Scenic Route. It's Helped Us Appreciate Our Town, And He's Opened Up To Us More In The Car.

• My husband and I are sharing a car while we save up for another.
• Recently, my 12-year-old son suggested we take a more scenic route to school.
• Surprisingly, it didn't take much longer, and it's gotten us all talking more in the car.

My husband and I have been sharing one car this summer while we save up for a second, and we've been opting to take the scenic route for trips around town. We can actually credit our 12-year-old son for the change, who requested we start taking a different way to school in the morning — one through town, on side roads, instead of the highway.

We were OK with the change as long as the drive didn't take too much longer. My husband compared the two routes on Google Maps, and we were all surprised to discover that the scenic route only took one minute longer. No one minded leaving the house a minute early in the morning to avoid the highway, so we tried it.

After testing out the scenic route just once, we were hooked

The highway speeds are enough to make me grip the wheel tighter, and I know our son can feel that kind of energy shift in the car. As a driver, I need to focus solely on the road, and even when I'm in the passenger seat, I keep my eyes straight ahead. When I shared this with my husband, he said he felt similar in that it is far more draining to take the highway.

We started experimenting with other routes to our most frequent destinations and found that the time difference was about the same for nearly all of them. If we're just going somewhere nearby, it often takes the same amount of time to get there via the more scenic — and much more relaxing — route.

Taking the more beautiful way has helped me feel more grateful for where we live

I like pointing out how lucky we are to be driving along the coast in our Florida town, because I don't want any of us to start taking our own backyard for granted. After sharing this with another local, I learned that one of our favorite routes is actually designated as the Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway, which is meant to be an alternative to taking the highway to admire our natural Florida landscape. It starts just north of where we live in Titusville, Florida, and runs almost 250 miles down along the coast.

We live in a small town with a lot of nature sanctuaries, so it's not uncommon for us to see all kinds of wildlife. My husband also loves driving through the main streets in town, admiring the architecture, and getting home and gardening ideas. We even learn about upcoming events around town from the signs we see when we're out. All of these things boost our mood and give us a lot to start talking about.

The scenery helps us get the conversation going

I started noticing that we were all talking more during drives. And then I realized that our preteen son was opening up more with us in the car; it's one of the few times our son really starts talking these days. Adding one more minute to our drives sometimes feels like a bonus just to hear him talk a little more and learn about what's going on with him.

By eliminating the stress we'd otherwise be under on the highway and with so much more to see along the way, the family conversations we've been having in the car have become much more meaningful. Even when it's just me and my husband — or me and my son — the effect is the same. We just talk more overall when we take the scenic route.

Taking the more relaxing way together has been the unexpected life hack that got our whole family talking again this summer.