<p>I stopped driving a stick when I got a cell phone (way before it was illegal to be one the phone when driving.) I learned to drive on both a stick (my mom had a 240Z) and an automatic. . </p>
<p>I also don’t quite understand why people have such a hard time parallel parking but that is probably just me. </p>
<p>Parallel parking seems to be the colonoscopy of driving. We all dread it but it’s really not so bad once you get familiar with the idea. </p>
<p>OP here, I really want to thank everyone who responded and love every story!</p>
<p>HImom, I took your advice and started telling her some of the stories from CC this morning. NEPatsGirl, I think my daughter is kind of like yours. When she can drive by herself, I probably will be looking out the window to see what she will be “taking” with her</p>
<p>I think my daughter is prepared to fail, she really does not have enough hours of practicing because she is nervous about driving. If she fails, she will get the permit again when she comes home in May, then practices all summer and try it again. Parallel parking is required for the road test. I will try to convince her to sign up for the 6 hour driving lesson with a driving school in the spring when she gets back. </p>
<p>I don’t want her to get too worried and tense about this whole road test scheduled for mid January, She should enjoy Christmas holiday and her birthday on New Year’s day! And I will try to help her do that just that!</p>
<p>I am bookmarking this thread.
I grew up when “everyone” got their liscense at 16.
Suburbs and public transportation was practically non existent unless you were going to the city.
I didn’t get my liscense till I was 19 or 20. I walked a lot.
I had taken drivers Ed but have poor peripheral vision.
I can parallel park now however, and drive a stick although I haven’t for years.
It’s rather unfortunate that you have to special order even a Jeep!, to get a manual transmission.
Ridiculous.</p>
<p>In Maine, the “parallel parking” test consists of pulling behind ONE parked car. There is not a second one!</p>
<p>S1 failed on his first try. It was a drizzly day but he was determined to do the test because it was his b-day (Feb. 14) and he planned to take his gf out to dinner to celebrate. The DMV was in a town 12 miles away and S1 wasn’t familiar w/ the streets there. He had always had a “hot foot” so we cautioned him about going too fast.</p>
<p>He failed because he drove too slow!!! Also, he didn’t put his arm over the shoulder of the passenger seat when backing up! He was 16 and worked hard not to cry on the drive home. He was so embarrassed when he had to call the gf and tell her he failed and their romantic dinner wasn’t going to happen! </p>
<p>He went to a different DMV two days later and passed.</p>
<p>Both of my kids passed which is some kind of a minor miracle considering I had to explain my family’s “bad driving gene” to them. I failed behind the wheel in HS and had to repeat. I have been driving for 41 years,still cannot parallel park and have no intention of ever learning.</p>
<p>Maine Longhorn wrote
They don’t use cars at the one I’ve been to in PA, they just have tall posts. I’m guessing they were wrapped in something squishy but I don’t remember. </p>
<p>My kids both passed the first time, but I flunked the first time. I still remember it, even though it was a million years ago–very embarrassing. </p>
<p>The DMV here requires various wait times between tests and doesn’t allow immediate retaking. Don’t remember if the road tests here require parallel parking. </p>
<p>I’m fine at parallel parking and H and the kids are too. We can also reverse well; must of my extended family have challenges reversing. </p>
<p>@packmom, what an awful tester your son had! What if you have bucket seats and there’s no place for your arm? What if the tester thinks an arm heading in his or her direction is threatening? What a dumb rule.</p>
<p>I’m pretty good at parallel parking, even my minivan with front wheel drive, but I hate driving in reverse for longer distances. Hate those long driveways you have to back out of! </p>
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<p>Me too. I hate them. I tend to overcorrect backing out.</p>
<p>I too have problem with backing out of my driveway!! I have to claim the spot that is closest to the entrance of the driveway but sometimes it does not work out that way. The guys in the family do not understand why I cannot back up “straight”, I have more problem if I have to PASS another car while backing up, luckily I have not hit any of our family cars YET while backing out or backing in!</p>
<p>My 2014 Acura has a back up camera. Best invention ever. I can now back down our hilly, non-straight driveway and not end up on the grass. </p>
<p>As for parallel parking - please allow me to brag. I am a gifted parallel parker. I can wedge a car into any tight space. On the other hand, I can’t post on the gifted cook thread, so I’m taking my bragging rights here. </p>
<p>I failed my first one but I was honestly not ready. I drove in the middle of the street because I felt like I was going to hit the parked cars on both sides, went way over the stop line & barely knew how to reverse park. Thank God we don’t have to parallel park in CT! I felt like crying but I wasn’t ready & I got over it. Passed on my second try. Practice is key so I practiced a lot in the summer as I didn’t have a car up at college.</p>
<p>Both kids passed the first time. But in our state there are strict requirements for those under 18 to get their licenses. Permit for 6 months with 12 hours driving with instructor and 6 hours observing instructor and at least 40 hours supervised driving. The 6 hours observing is usually in a car with another student doing the driving - so they’re also learning from what that student does right or wrong and what the instructor is telling that student. They would sign up for a two hour slot with a friend and each drive one of the hours and observe the other hour. As it got closer to the driving test day (always a Saturday morning as the driving school has enough students to bring the registry tester to a specific location in town), they would have their last two hours with the instructor practicing everything they needed to do for the test in the area where the test takes place.</p>
<p>For my DS, I didn’t drive with him for a while after one scary “incident” with his permit. But with DD, I was driving her 20 minutes each way to school on a daily basis including on a highway so as soon as she got her permit and got some lessons under her belt, she took over the driving and I was the passenger. Only thing it didn’t cover was driving in snow because of the timing of her permit period (April - October). We were going to teach her to drive in snow once it came and we could go back to a parking lot to practice. She got her license and we had an unexpected October snow storm a few days later! I got a call from her when she had arrived at her dance class that there was four inches of snow on the ground she had driven thru! That was in the next door town - it was raining at home! But she made it there and back safely. Yikes!</p>
<p>For all parents who have kids 21 years and under, I would highly recommend the Drivers Edge course. From their website at driversedge.org: Driver’s Edge is a non-profit organization and public charity dedicated to one simple thing – teaching young drivers what’s not being taught in traditional driver’s education. Our sole mission is to help save lives with our unique and innovative behind the wheel program.</p>
<p>I had my DD go through this course and they taught her several things that made her more confident in her driving abilities. My DD failed the road test her first time and past it the second time about one month later. She swore she never wanted to drive. Now she drives herself to work and school!</p>
<p>S failed his first road test: parallel parking was the major issue. He also was asked to back up around a corner and some distance down a road–this astonished me, because IMHO it was a dangerous manoeuvre that no one should do–and apparently touched the curb or something. H had taken him out to practice parking; reportedly, he parked once, said he could do it, and that was the end of it.</p>
<p>The next time, <em>I</em> took charge of his prep, and made him park about 30 times. We had a big fight, followed by a very deep conversation, and he passed. </p>
<p>After several years of living in Hoboken and driving in NYC and Brooklyn Heights and so forth, I can squeeze myself into almost anything. But it is my understanding that the testers fail you if you take more than 3 back and forths to get in and woe betide someone who touches a bumper. Not for those in the NYC area who, as they say, park by braille! :)</p>
<p>Sally, am quite sure our kids failed at the same infamous testing site!</p>
<p>Interesting about the Driver’s Edge course, much needed. When D was failing those tests, I wished for a class for post HS new drivers. </p>
<p>I have a Honda Fit with stick shift, found it used. Not sure how common they might be with recent year’s models. </p>
<p>My D failed her first driving test. She practiced driving a lot all around one certain DMV office with the driving school. I didn’t know that and scheduled her test at another location. She fell apart. She accidently did a dead stop at a green light in the middle of the test. </p>
<p>Of course she had bragged to all her friends she was getting her license. And, to make it worse, one of her friends coincidentally showed up for their driving test just as she was returning and getting out of the car. CA requires a 2 week waiting period before she could go back and try again.</p>