Teaching your teenager how to drive

[Levi]

Oh man where to start. The joys of being a parent and teaching your kid how to drive. Maybe for some of you and your kid it goes well. For me every time we make it back home I want to kiss the ground that I made it back alive lol.

My daughter took the learners permit test five times before she could pass it. At first I thought it was just my kid until I sat at the dmv and watched kid after kid come out from the testing area and tell their parents that they failed the test again. What is wrong with these kids now days they dont want to drive.

So the last while I've been taken my daughter to drive and she is getting better but some days where lucky she didnt take out every car on the road. Just like bill engvall said the roads need to be covered in tires and mattress.

So we have her scheduled for drivers ed next month and trying to bribe her to get a driver's license. So well go from there.

I remember my friends and me couldn't wait to drive and have some freedom. My friend and me had blazers and would go everywhere. Maybe it's my old age, but having a driver's license has a teenage was the start of life.

 

[Greatscott]

It can depend on where you live. Growing up in the sticks, my siblings and I were driving before we touch the peddles. In our early teens we'd get firewood and were always driving, so when we got to driver's ed/learner's permits, it was all old news and no big deal. Going through driver's ed with kids that lived in town and never had actually driven was scary as hell.

 

[BUBBA069]

My daughter was a hot mess of a learning curve. I made her renew her permit because she wasn't ready. She was too jumpy/skittish. Shes better now, but still can get anxious setting in traffic. Can get lost driving driving in her own town if she ends up on a street shes never been on before. I have tried. I really have. Her brain has no sense of direction at all.

My boy couldn't get his fast enough, he was supper easy to teach to drive. I could drop him in another state without a map and he could find his way home.

crazy how different my kids are lol

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I wouldn't have taken my kid back 5 times! After the second I would have made them wait another 6 months or a year. Going to the DMV is a disaster that I avoid at all costs.

Not sure why she wouldn't want her license. I guess kids are content with sitting at home and staring at electronic devices while communicating with their friends from a distance. Very odd.

 

[ferp420]

my daughter dident get her license till she was 21 and had a kid of her own and her boyfreind got a dui lol i taught her to drive at 17 she drove fine i had faith in her cause she rides dirtbikes and quads so the motor skills are there she had a permit for years just had no interest in driving

 

[skinnyj]

My daughter took the learners permit test five times before she could pass it. At first I thought it was just my kid until I sat at the dmv and watched kid after kid come out from the testing area and tell their parents that they failed the test again. What is wrong with these kids now days they dont want to drive.

I would like to think it is because they made the test harder, but I know that is not the case.

My stepdaughter was the opposite. She was all gung-ho to get her license. This was despite us telling her that, even if she got her license, we were not insuring her. We didn't say this to be jerks. It costs a shit-ton to put a teen driver on your insurance.

 

[59sled]

So many kids think cars are a big bad death machine nowadays.

A lot comes down to where you live and how you live. Also hobbies. My kids grew up riding dirt bikes, I think that helped a lot.
I've always been into cars, so when my boys were at age to get their license they couldn't wait.

My kids learned to drive when we used to do camping trips out to the desert. Both kids started driving around 10 in the desert. So when the time it came for their test. It was no problem for them.

And now my oldest is 19 and he just got his Class A license now.

A lot of this comes down to the parenting. If the parents are not into driving then mostly the kids wont be either.

On the flip side. I am definitely worried as both boys (17 and 19) have a heavy foot.

 

[TexasSP]

I wouldn't have taken my kid back 5 times! After the second I would have made them wait another 6 months or a year. Going to the DMV is a disaster that I avoid at all costs.

Not sure why she wouldn't want her license. I guess kids are content with sitting at home and staring at electronic devices while communicating with their friends from a distance. Very odd.

Says the guy without a kid.

People without kids that make claims of what they would do in such and such situation if they had a kid are full of crap, period.

Parenting is the hardest job I have ever had, it never lets up, you constantly question yourself. There are no perfect answers for every kid and every situation. Different kids respond differently to different things. People who have never raised kids have absolutely no f'ing idea what they're talking about.

Most of us parents do our best, we're human, we make mistakes. There isn't a person on this planet who has perfected parenting, I guarantee it.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Says the guy without a kid.

People without kids that make claims of what they would do in such and such situation if they had a kid are full of crap, period.

Parenting is the hardest job I have ever had, it never lets up, you constantly question yourself. There are no perfect answers for every kid and every situation. Different kids respond differently to different things. People who have never raised kids have absolutely no f'ing idea what they're talking about.

Most of us parents do our best, we're human, we make mistakes. There isn't a person on this planet who has perfected parenting, I guarantee it.

Correct. I don't have kids. I prefer my free time spent on me and I know that. Too many parents have kids and then complain about them. Then why didn't those adults act like one and decide to not have kids?

Yes, being a parent is the most difficult thing on the planet. I'm not sure why parents feel the need to reiterate that. It's common knowledge. We were all children and we know how we tested our parents so we all have that perspective. At the same time, I'd say parents today are much weaker and much more lenient than parents of the past. So many modern parents set rules and then don't abide by them so the children know they run the show.

When I tell you I wouldn't take a child back to the DMV that frequently if they weren't interested in getting their license, I mean it. Why spend my time on something for them if they're not interested in it and if they're just going to waste that time?

 

[R2j]

Here in South Dakota they get their license at 14, so my oldest has been driving now for 3 years. He did really well with it and is a very good driver. Now for his brother, just starting drivers ed, I'm not too sure about. :lmao: My wife took him out here recently and he scared the shiz out of her. Hopefully it was just nerves.

 

[Levi]

Yeah there can be lots of reasons why kids dont want to drive. My daughter has this dream of living in some big city like NYC or somewhere like that where you dont need a car and can walk and take the subway places. Where we live we live outside the city limits and even in the city's around us you still need to be able to drive. She has no interest in driving. Also she needs to grow up a little too and learn that she needs to be able to get around on her own. Yes we took her back 5 times to the dmv before she got her permit. Not a big deal, do what has to be done. But it was a little frustrating. My boy though has plans on getting his drivers license soon as he turns 16. We have a family friend that told him if he wanted he could have the bronco that's in the back yard. So hes all excited to get it. Mom and me think other wise it's a project truck that will take a lot of work, time and money. But will see when we get down that road.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Yeah there can be lots of reasons why kids dont want to drive. My daughter has this dream of living in some big city like NYC or somewhere like that where you dont need a car and can walk and take the subway places. Where we live we live outside the city limits and even in the city's around us you still need to be able to drive. She has no interest in driving. Also she needs to grow up a little too and learn that she needs to be able to get around on her own. Yes we took her back 5 times to the dmv before she got her permit. Not a big deal, do what has to be done. But it was a little frustrating. My boy though has plans on getting his drivers license soon as he turns 16. We have a family friend that told him if he wanted he could have the bronco that's in the back yard. So hes all excited to get it. Mom and me think other wise it's a project truck that will take a lot of work, time and money. But will see when we get down that road.

If indeed she wants to live in the city it's usually a bad thing to have a car. Parking is too expensive. Lots of people grow out of that dream though so I guess you'll find out.

You're more patient than me. Nothing wrong with that. I wish I was more patient!

 

[wings_of_fire]

We learnt driving when our legs were not long enough to properly reach the levers on our commercial trucks. We knew where the keys were kept and when the elders were out, the trucks moved places:lmao:

Current generation is getting way too pampered and its sadly going to affect their risk taking abilities in life.

A funny incident that I recall is when some generation Z teenagers broke into a car to steal it, but left it there because it was a stick shift and none of them could drive a stick shift:lmao:

 

[Peaker]

O man give a car to a 14 YO Danish kid, and all hell will be loose, it mostly also are for 18 YO kids which is when we used to get licensed here, but you can now do it at 17 though for the first year you must have a experienced driver as passenger.
It seem Danish kids / teens are more infantile than other places, here when you turn 16 you can get a 30 km/h moped ( if you pass the license ) in many other countries around us at that age you can drive a 80 CC or so speed demon.
Most hurt in Danish traffic are also,,,,,,, you guessed in kids on mopeds, often illegal tuned ones. :roll:
Something wrong here.

My nieces BF are like her mid 20ties, and he already had his license suspended for a few years. And i am like WTF ???? i was a complete moron when i was a kid too, but apparently not at the level of current kids.

 

[Shinchu]

Count me in the crowd who couldnt get a license fast enough. It was the mid 90s and the internet was still not common. I wrenched on anything I could find and couldnt wait to start on cars and then actually drive it to enjoy the work put in.
My mom had different plans.
My grandpa gave me his el Camino he bought new in 1965. He saved it for me and it wasnt mint by far lol but it ran!
I was born in june and when summer came along ohhhh BOY! Gonna get my license just in time!
Nope.
Mom says I'm not ready. I feel like luke told by yoda I'm not ready to be a Jedi.
I made her take me for practice EVERY. DAY.
Still, no joy.
Finally a week before school starts back up, oh hey you are ready to get your license!
What a wet towel, my mom.

Anyway, I had experience driving in the desert when I was 12 and it paid off. I got a good feeling for how a car feels when my dad pinned my foot to the floor with his. We came to a switchback and with a fully loaded for camping 79 f150, he never lifted. I hucked that ferd through the switchback like a friggin rally driver.
My dad let off and said "how... How did you do that???"
Skills pop. Skills.
Luckily it was just a couple of bushes so there was no real danger other than scratching the paint.

Fast forward 28 years of street racing, drifting, and autocross later... My 11 year old son Andrew is just as obsessed with cars as his old man. In fact, hes playing forza on the xbox as I type this.
That dude is going to be a natural behind the wheel of the real deal. I can feel it.
There is hope for the future of drivers. You just gotta get them interested. Its our job as parents to set them in the right direction.

 

[Joshs4x4toyz]

My oldest is 12 so still fairly young, but has been driving (racing) awhile doing 1/4 midgets and now his UTV for 4 yrs. Hes definitely ready, obviously driving with traffic and real laws are totally different, but he is super excited. Always talks about his truck which is a 96 std cab OBS with 351. Of course a 5spd and 60 swap too 8). We built the motor about two years ago so hopefully holds him over awhile. Its nothing special, but almost done. I always tell him i cant wait when he gets to drive his little sister to school and everywhere.

 

[Inspector86]

Going to the DMV is a disaster that I avoid at all costs.

AMEN!


My neighbor's son is now 21 and still living at home, he does not drive nor have a job. I just don't understand the kids these days.

 

[KJ10]

My, youngest kid, son turns 16 in July. He'll be the 2nd of my four kids to get a license. I've been teaching him for 7 years so, he's doing well at it. Mom moved out of state with the other kids so, I didn't get the chance to teach them.

 

[Peaker]

My mom taught me to drive, my father only got his license like when he was 50 but never used it as far as i know.


Got my first car the Volvo 121 when i was 17, and i also drove it now and then at that age.
And i was also a idiot driver from when i was 18 and until i reached about 40, TBH it is a miracle i have never killed myself or trashed a car and not least gotten a speeding ticket.


On the other hand i was put up for a royal commendation for doing CPR on a guy that wrecked really bad one day in 1992 or 3, but i flipped that off as i am not a fan of royalty, or commendations for doing what should be pretty normal,,,, at least if you know CPR.


To be honest,,,,, as always, i would not do CPR on anyone today as i have lost faith in mankind.

 

[DeanKennedy]

My son is 20 years old, he recently learned to ride. I, like all people, advocate that driving learning takes place in practice. But he initially decided that he should study the entire theoretical part of this process.
I was not opposed, he read scientific papers and essays related to police brutality https://samplius.com/free-essay-examples/police-brutality/ because drivers very often interact with police officers. After that he took courses and successfully obtained his license. Since he gained a lot of knowledge in this area, he decided that his mission is to educate the rest of the young people who do not have this skill. He currently writes essays for a driving school and maintains a written blog