Saw the threads on daughters reluctance to drive. My own daughter does not like to drive, and has done so on her own minimally. She did get a restricted license for our overseas location, but there the traffic moves slowly and there are a lot of traffic stops. Cars are also smaller. She is totally intimidated here in the US. Cars are huge, speeds are fast. We have offered a driving refresher course, perhaps next summer. I recently read an article about millenials being more reluctant to drive, more likely to live in cities with mass transportation, perhaps. Anyone else dealing with this?
My daughter is in the same boat. She prefers to take metro and shuttles wherever she has to go. We live in a very congested area with lots of traffic and construction. Metro is walking distance from home.
Have her vision checked.
My eyes dont track together, so depth perception and peripheral vision is limited, and makes driving more challenging especially in the city.
Thanks for the suggestion, vision is fine. She hasn’t had a strong need to drive, and that could be a factor.
I have an almost-DIL (son’s GF of five years) who is the same way. It make me and son nuts.
FWIW, although I have a drivers license, I very rarely drive. I live in an urban area where mass transit is just so much easier.
Same thing here! My kid doesn’t want to drive. His older sister jump at every opportunity to drive, but not this kid. I had to force him to get his permit and now I am going to have to make him go get an actual license. We drive a compact car and we do have busy roadways here. I suppose he could be a bit intimidated.
We have lived overseas where she could walk or take a cab to get around. She is to go to school in Massachusetts where the traffic seems crazy and overwhelming to her. Perhaps time and another driver education course will do.
If public transportation is available, or there are plenty of friends to drive I don’'t think it is unusual. I live in the Boston area. My S did not get his license til he was almost 18, then he couldn’t believe he waited so long. My 24 yo nephew still does not have a license. And I can list more kids I know who don’t drive. When I was a kid I had my license as soon as I could get it. Now a days, especially if kids live near PT they do not see it as something they need. Where is the school your D going to located?
She will be in the greater Boston area as well. We don’t feel like she needs a car or to drive right now, but would like her to master this skill at some point. It does seem consistent with what I read about current young adults not feeling this strong need to drive due to living in urban areas and having good public transportation. Thanks for all of your responses.
My daughter is the exact opposite. She couldn’t wait to drive. She got her license and car as soon as she turned 16. Now she drives her car like gas is free LOL. We’re from SoCal BTW.
When she needs to drive, she will get serious about it. Provided she has the basic skill set and a legal license, she’s fine. Don’t overthink this.
Neither of our kids nor most of their college-entering expatriate friends have drivers licenses. S1 chose a college w good local transportation options, so he gets to kick the can further down the road. Other than the convenience of having ID (he just uses his passport now to board US domestic flights, there just hasn’t been the urgency for it.
My sister lives in the Boston area. She never got a driver’s license until she had a 5 year old daughter who wanted to take dance lessons from a teacher that was not on the T route.
When I was 18 I attended drivers education. My behind the wheel instructor was known for screaming and yelling. I would dread going to those classes. He told me that I should never drive. I developed a fear of learning but because I had to get over it at 22 and started driving. The new instructor was very good and I passed the road exam the 2nd day of driving with him. So make sure you have a good teacher whenever its time to teach your children to drive. Get referrals from classmates or friends.
Yeah @GMTplus7 We have a similar situation, I guess it will work itself out. Enough to deal with right now otherwise.
My D did not want to drive either. I forced her into it, she finally got her license in her senior year of HS. Two years later she is driving herself everywhere. Takes city roads when she can but does occasionally get on I95. Which says a lot since we live in N. VA. She even drives to her doctor appts 25 miles north!
I would definitely get her into a refresher course. Gaining confidence will help.
@chuckledoodle
NOVA traffic is horrible especially with all the construction going on in the Tysons area.
H’s niece, like many young people in Seattle, had no interest in driving because public transportation was so easily available. But then 1 year became 5, and 5 became 10 and soon she was 30, with a young child and getting everywhere from work to daycare to the stores, etc. without a car wasn’t so much fun. So she learned to drive. But she learned so late that she’d built up a terrible fear of driving and now drives, but hates every minute of it. She won’t drive on the freeways, unless she HAS to. She told us recently that she would go back and learn at 16 and practice driving as much as possible, even if she continued to use public transportation.
Both of my kids learned how to drive very early. They are very good drivers. I don’t think they had an accident compare to my nephews and nieces. I get some practice early.