Teaching teens to drive.

My parents did not have to teach me. I had drivers ed. in H.S.. I still was able to learn from my parents with my permit. My kids don't receive any of that now at school. ( I also learned to drive a school bus {when I was 16 yrs old} during the summer through the school system.)

Fortunately I had years of driving a ride on lawn mower, and riding my bike thousands of miles around town. My youngest doesn't even know where the streets in our neighborhood go! My other teens didn't know the names of the major roads in our town. They use their GPS on their phones.

My car has a backup camera, something they are not allowed to use during their driving exam.

One thing I did for my oldest, was go down to the DMV, follow at a very far distance, someone taking their driving exam. Now I know the wrought and all the steps. We go there and practice. The cones stay out all the time. The employees encourage you to come and practice during off hours.

greatcoastal, I didn’t start them on the road. Open parking lot after hours; one with few obstacles and no cars. Spent a lot of time getting them comfortable controlling the vehicle at really low speeds; turning radius, braking and acceleration without thrashing passengers, etc. All slow and low-stress.

Practiced stopping / braking distance and speed, proper signaling, turning without jumping the curb. Then worked up to parking between the lines. A lot. Then backing out of a parking space. Also a lot.

Toward the end of the training, I’d have them in a clear area, make them mash the accelerator from a stop, so they could get a sense for how fast it’d accelerate; then stand on the brakes to see what to expect with an emergency stop. They were pretty uncomfortable doing that drill.

Only then did we get on the open road, starting at around 9pm when there wasn’t traffic. Once they got that down, I also made them learn stick. And change a tire.

More fun for me was later on, teaching them to pull a 20’ trailer in my truck. I’d set them up straight, put just a little turn in the steering wheel, then challenge them to back up. 😂

Finally, when they got turned loose on their own, it was in a small, cheap pickup truck with manual transmission and a small 4-cylinder engine. Enough to get around, but nothing to be excited about or hotrod in. They’ve had their share of insurance claims since then; fortunately none where they were at fault, but several that could have been avoided with more experience.

Now they both still drive manual cars, do their own repairs, and change their own oil. We’ve done brake jobs, replaced bearings, swapped a couple engines, and rebuilt a couple together. They have a lot more respect for maintaining their vehicles because they know how they work. And as starving students they appreciate saving money by doing their own repairs.

Handy I don't know about your granddaughter🤔. If she somehow manages to get through pilot training, could you let me know what airline she's lying for so I can avoid it? 😉😁

From what I understand, most large airline pilots are military; otherwise it's hard to rack up the flight hours needed on large jets.

My son received his provisional driver’s licence yesterday. I had assumed that he would be itching to drive and gain additional independence, but no not at all. Laid back as ever, he tells me he will be waiting for ‘warmer weather’ to get going. These young people..... etc.

Thats very sensible of him! Not a great time of year to start (depending on where you live!)