<p>Well, my youngest got her permit…and driving the hills of SF is an adventure to say the least</p>
<p>She is doing a good job, but it is a tad nervewracking</p>
<p>So, kudos to those that have gone through and good luck to those whose turn is yet to come</p>
<p>A TAD nerve wracking??? You’re a better mom than me! :)</p>
<p>I would rather do toilet training over again rather than enduring the learning-to-drive process.</p>
<p>“We” took out our mailbox in an early driving session with kid #1. (long story how I didn’t manage to prevent that one!) She pointed out that it had been weakened by the 2 other times the town snowplow had done the same thing.</p>
<p>I’m not looking forward to getting in the car with kid #2, but I’ve got another year.</p>
<p>Ahh, nostalgia…that was me last year. Except I taught DD to drive a stick shift. </p>
<p>It’s now a year since she passed the exam; she’s had 4 minor accidents; 1 of which involved a careless driving citiation and 3 points on her driving record for one of them.</p>
<p>Have fun!</p>
<p>My daughter can hardly wait to get her permit; I’ll take any words of advice from experienced hands.</p>
<p>“I’ll take any words of advice from experienced hands.”</p>
<p>Go with the toilet training. :D</p>
<p>Speaking of hands, I did not understand the description of sweating hands until my kids first got behind the wheel. Hands really do sweat when you are scared! We’ve survived two teen drivers. My son is a little bit better driver then my daughter and I think it has to do with playing video games -he has really good hand eye coordination and response time to things around him.</p>
<p>I didn’t think it was too bad! <avoiding tomatoes=“”></avoiding></p>
<p>Okay, -Allmusic-, what is your secret??</p>
<p>I’m surprised you are even trying. 
We’re in the burbs, so my d. had her license the day after her 16th birthday … but absolutely none of her friends who live in SF drive, and my son never had a car during all the time he lived in the city. </p>
<p>If you must teach your daughter, my advice is for you to drive outside the city to an area with little traffic and practice a LOT before you bring her back into city traffic. When my daughter got her permit, we started driving loops around parking lots – a good place to start is in a business park on weekends, they tend to be fairly empty. </p>
<p>My daughter is actually a very good driver and once she got the hang of things, everyone in the family (me, her dad, her brother, her grandparents) all wanted her to drive. But I think that the time we in the parking lots getting a feel for the car really helped a lot: several hours were spent circling around one way, then the other, then back again, and again, and again; and then stopping, and starting, and stopping, and starting; and then backing up, pulling into marked parking spaces, pulling out, pulling in, pulling out again. Boring… but by the time we were going anywhere with traffic she definitely was past having to consciously think about basic elements of control.</p>
<p>(My son was much scarier – he was so scary, he scared himself, and avoided driving as a teenager. He didn’t become comfortable with driving until he was about 22 and had to do a lot of driving for his job).</p>
<p>I agree, CGM!!
Yes, it’s nerve wracking driving with them. I can’t help but think about his younger siblings, who still need their mother! Then I realize that soon he’ll be out there driving on his own, so I go along… Husband helps on weekends.</p>
<p>On a more serious note, I think it’s a highly underrated skill, and one that’s often neglected. The few drving school lessons S. took seemed geared more towards passing the road test quickly than to becoming an aware and defensive driver. It’s one of the most dangerous things they’re going to do, most days of their life, and one of the most important skills they need to learn well. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed–</p>
<p>Just read your post too, calmom–
Our S. hasn’t been in any real hurry to drive. Most of his friends were champing at the bit to reach 16 and get their permits. He’s just now getting down to business and he turns 18 in a few days. For some reason my husband seems somewhat embarassed by this, but so be it.</p>
<p>D took out a brick planter next to our driveway and S toppled the mailbox. I get sweaty and nervous just remembering the driving lessons! I finally had to turn it over to my H because my nerves couldn’t take it.</p>
<p>Fendrock
My advice,professional driving lessons in a dual control car. Gives the kid some confidence,w/o a parent sweatingly clutching the dashboard.
S had two accidents right away,one minor fender meets door in parking lot, one much more serious misjudging merging traffic.
We made him attend a 5-10 hr ?(not sure how many hours) defensive driving class which showed him the seriousness of driving.Also,we didnt let him drive for about a month after the “big” accident,to calm down,and then he eased his way back onto the roads.
Older D never had an accident,has driven all over the USA.
Good luck with this process.As others have said, I think its by far the most stressful situation that comes along,worse than college admissions!
That first time they drive away w/o you in the car is enough to make you check into a mental hspital.</p>
<p>In our house, it’s H’s job to get the kids started. I remember taking driver’s ed in HS, with simulators and then driving with a teacher and a few other kids for road training. I don’t really remember my dad ever taking me out driving. In Massachusetts, the kids have to pass a written test and then they have their permits. In many cases, mom or dad are the first ones to take them out on the road. :eek: I actually think S2 is a little more careful than S1, who thought he knew everything on day 1.</p>
<p>The one thing I’ve insisted on is that they have their permits for a year before they get their licenses. I want them to have as much experience as possible with one of us in the car before they are on their own. Then we made sure S1 went to college where most kids don’t have cars! The whole process might explain my head of gray hair, though.</p>
<p>Find the nearest “big box” store and get there early on Sunday morning to practice driving around the [empty] parking lot.</p>
<p>SpringfieldMom- if my D1 read your post she’d be sure that you were talking about her. She knew everything right away, would not listen to correction, argued every point made as if it were a debate not a driving lesson; 4 tickets, 3 minor accidents, a careless driving citation ordeal later I made her take supplemental behind the wheel lessons and took her car away for quite a while. Hopefully, that has done the trick. Now that I am going though the process with D2 I can see where the problem started with D1. This time she listens to the critique, adjusts her behavior accordingly – what a concept!</p>
<p>Well, in about 9 months I am going to have TWO boys starting to drive. (I’ll see your gray hairs and raise you!) I lived through this with S#1, although the first time Mr. Big Shot applied the brakes he almost put us both through the windshield, even with seat belts on. And the first right turn he made? I can still see the whites of the eyes of the driver who was heading towards us. He had one minor accident out of sheer stupidity, which cost him $500 out of his summer earnings, and he’s been “accident-free” for the past four years.</p>
<p>DD got her permit a few weeks ago. In PA you need at least 6 months of a timeframe between permit and drivers license exam. Beyond that there is a cinderella rule for not driving aafter 11 pm.</p>
<p>DD is not too bad, must get better at the concept of braking BEFORE you get to a curve, and accelerating out of it.</p>
<p>The other day I let her drive home from a fast food place about a mile away. Pulled into the driveway…crooked as heck. I told her she needed to back up and straighten it out. She got angry and said…“You Do it”. </p>
<p>I told her that for every time you drive a car you must park it, and that if she couldn’t do it then she surely wasn’t ready to drive, and that I would space out her lessons accordingly… Immediate tears. I got out of the car and directed her…car ended up in about the same place. She didn’t know which way her wheels were facing or what direction to turn them while reversing. Once I saw the tears…amazing, she could conjure them that quickly!!! (alas I knew they were fake), I questioned her maturity level, and whether I thought she could handle driving ANYWHERE except in a vacant parking lot. She bucked up and did it…albeit, not the highest quality parking job.</p>
<p>I will defintely be losing more of my hair as driving lessons continue. I do second the recommendation of outside lessons with a car with dual controls. Sometimes, the training experience becomes a battle of wills as opposed to a teaching and learning experience. Unfortunately, there is zero tolerance for my will to make her a safe driver.</p>
<p>DS just turned 18. I keep telling him, you might THINK you are a good driver, dont be fooled by that, you are a marginal driver at best, and must constantly keep on your toes. He is better than marginal, but still doesn’t have the necessary experience to be what my HS driving instructor would consider, “solid”.</p>
<p>I wish they would have the simulators in our school!!!</p>