<p>Mommusic, as I recall, you are supposed to soap the OUTSIDE of the pots, not the inside!</p>
<p>Just took my daughter out driving for the first time. We live in the city, which only makes things scarier. </p>
<p>She almost sideswiped a parked car. </p>
<p>The pedestrians were almost running to get across the street and far away from her.</p>
<p>And we only went around the block!!! I’ll be in the back, with a cold compress over my eyes.</p>
<p>m&s, I’m feelin ya!</p>
<p>Oh dear, m&s. Driving on city streets on day one? Better plan: empty church parking lots, cemeteries,… </p>
<p>Maybe she’d be better off with this vehicle: <a href=“http://www.segway.com/solutions/profiles/[/url]”>http://www.segway.com/solutions/profiles/</a>
Don’t we keep one out behind the Alley?</p>
<p>To clarify, around the block was after the parking lot course. D was confident after parking lot, but was feeling the pressure from parked cars, other moving vehicles, pedestrians etc when she went around our block…</p>
<p>m&s, I remember the first time my dad took me out onto local streets after the sessions in the parking lot. I was SCARED STIFF! I couldn’t BELIEVE how fast 25mph was, when you were actually PILOTING THE VEHICLE YOURSELF! And there were SO MANY PLACES TO LOOK! It truly was a scary experience for me, and I honestly have a vivid memory of sitting in that driver’s seat that day. How did your D feel after getting home? Is she still eager to get back behind the wheel again (I hope)?</p>
<p>At our house, TSFH is off on his Senior Trip for 3 days. I’m starting to get a taste of what it’s really going to feel like in September around here… sigh.</p>
<p>Somebody heat up the hot tub, will ya? I’m gonna whip up some strawberry daiquiris and think back to the days of teaching a child to drive.</p>
<p>I know what you mean, mootmom. I remember my first day out on a “real” road (not parking lot, not cul-de-sac…). Sainted father and I were on a 6-lane divided arterial, 30-mph type. It was largely a straightaway. But then we came upon a section that was kind of an elongated mild S-curve. When I saw it ahead of me, I panicked. Me: “Am I supposed to curve the car around that, Dad!?!” Dad: “Well, everyone else is going to. I think you’d better.”</p>
<p>I would have laughed. but just had my own experience w/ s2 today. He missed his friend’s driveway and decided to turn around in a driveway further down the street. No problem, right? Well, as he backed out of the driveway, he accidently stepped on the gas instead of the brake and we went across the road into a fence. Poor kid, white in the face and that sick feeling from the adrenalin rush - I thought he was going to throw up. Several ugly scratches on the back of the car, but still, a painless lesson.</p>
<p>Can we break open a bottle of scotch now?</p>
<p>Pinch? (or Dimple, as it were) :)</p>
<p>D did confess, after the fact, to mixing up the brake and gas pedals. She also said she sweating like she was in a sauna. </p>
<p>My goal is to just help her get the basic steering down and learn where the controls are on our car. Once she does that, she has three lessons with a professional driving instructor. Money well spent.</p>
<p>DH took DD out in parking lot on stick shift. ( BAD IDEA!) S2 and S3 went along for fun. Tramatic for all, S2 will never be the same.</p>
<p>H needed new shocks!!</p>
<p>At least it wasn’t with me:D</p>
<p>LOL. But not for long. Mathson will probably be learning to drive this summer. I might get Mathdad to do the honors - I did most of my practice driving with him the year after I graduated from college and he was much calmer than I would ever be.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know why I thought it would be easier the 2nd time around. First s was just wonderful, a really calm, careful driver - at 18, I can actually fall asleep with him driving. Second s is a horse of a different color, that’s for sure. He gets very uptight, senses my white knuckles holding on to the side of the car, and REALLY gets upset when I unconsciously use my imaginary brakes on the passenger side. He talks about how slow other drivers are and fails to notice that he is going 30 in a 50 mph zone. My goal for him is to be able to make any turn without violently throwing the contents of his car from one side to the other (how is it that he can do that at 5 mph?).</p>
<p>Boy does this bring back memories. All the kids are different, and you can never predict what kind of drivers they will be. D was calm and mature, but so cautious as a driver that she was literally freaked out by large trucks on the highway next to her. S1 is marginally ADD, we think, but is a great, thoughtful driver. And S2 took 3 tries to pass the driving test. Had great trouble with the “maneuverability” part, which is our state’s orange-coned version of parallel parking. I do not look forward to S3, who is now 15 and sort of…absent-minded.</p>
<p>I always deferred the initial getting to know the brake/accelerator lesson to DH. He taught me to drive a stick shift at age 28! And I was 7 mos. pregnant at the time! Mr. Calm himself. :)</p>
<p>My son is a better driver than his sister-- who is in every other respect more responsible…</p>
<p>Speaking of TSFS, he had his 3rd GIG last night… and I got to go! </p>
<p>He was invited to play by some college kids-- one of whom had heard his music on his myspace music page. All the other performers were college aged or older (meanwhile my S had to have his mommy drive him there). He was so adorable. He was GOOD too! The other performers were so supportive of him and one of them even jammed with him. So generous of them to include a little HS sophomore in their event. </p>
<p>I was really proud. :)</p>
<p>Oh, these driving stories! I will have not one, but TWO, 16 year old boys to teach come the New Year! Can you imagine? I can still remember, quite vividly, oldest S’s first attempt at a right turn. I picked a right turn onto an unbusy street, but of course as S begins to go into the turn, here comes a car up that street, towards him. S, not realizing how much he actually has to turn the wheel in order to get the car into the right lane, makes a wide turn, heading right towards the other car. I remember seeing the eyes of the other driver go wide. Of course, I grabbed the wheel and jerked it to the right so that we didn’t hit him head on. Teaching two of them to drive will drive me, a non-drinker, to hit the back of SA frequently.</p>
<p>Haha jmmom.</p>
<p>I learned to drive on a tractor and then, when I was 15 or so, my dad let me drive the car on a single lane country road. I made it around to the gate when he started shouting “Look out for the post! Look out for the post!” I did look at it–right before I mowed it over. He was ropeable.</p>
<p>Better than my borhter who called my mom to say that he had wedged the car up onto a brick wall at the drive-in bank. Two wheels off the gournd by the time he really got it jammed up there. Good one.</p>
<p>I did the sensible thing. I hired an instructor to teach sons and then I served as the adult passenger. They both drive like they have lead bricks attached to their right feet. Whiplash is a worry. The only truly scary moment was when S1 and I drove a two lane road through the mountains and we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the lights on the relatively new car. I’m amazed we survived that one–with me shreiking at him and reaching over to push every single button–and him belllowing back at me that he couldn’t see a thing. Ahhhhhh…parenthood.</p>
<p>I bet I’m the only one here who learned to drive from a ~14 year old (I was 12) in a vintage truck with a push button ignition. Unless we have some farmers’ kids in the alley?</p>
<p>SBmom–my, you ARE a senior member! ;)</p>
<p>My mother learned to drive on a tractor on the farm. I don’t have any stories of how she made the transition to a car on roads, however.</p>
<p>LOL. My Dad started driving at 13. I did have my first driving lessons from him driving on the other side of the road in Africa. :)</p>