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That I am NOT cut out for teaching teenagers to drive.

Heaven help me if I ever get through my 4 kids.

I made it through my first son learning, though barely. And I wont lie.... I had very little to do with the fact that he learned to drive at all. I let him practice a handful of times, but each and every time I panicked. I am a TERRIBLE "backseat driver".

Now, son #2 is practicing more..... his driving test is next week, so he's driving every time we leave the driveway. I've yelled, cursed, had a near panic attack..... and after thinking about it later- I don't think he is doing so bad.  I just.......can't....... do it. I freak. I even yanked the stearing wheel last week, cause I thought he was cutting a left turn too sharp and thought he was gonna hit the car sitting there. He doesn't WANT me to take him driving- unless I take a prozac first or something.  LOL  (and no.... I don't take Prozac..... I just act like I need it sometimes)

Now, my daughter is going to try for her permit.  :fright:  So, she's gonna be doing the "Mom, can I drive?". I think she's already made a secret pact with her dad though that only he can take her out driving. They all think I'm a nutcase.

My youngest is almost 13, and of course has driven a few times down our dead end lane.... but he's all about fast cars and "burning rubber". I wont make it through HIM learning to drive at all.

I'm a pretty good mom I think, in every other aspect. I'm very close to all my kids.

So..... is it very "un-parentlike"..... to want to just completely skip this one little area of your kids' upbringing? Cause, really, you should see me when they're driving- I'm horrible. Anybody else with kids ever spazz out like that?

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I didn't spaz out, until I found out what the insurance was going to cost.....especially for a male......walking around, like I was doing the funky chicken with the bill in my hand......I'd suggest a blindfold........no not while you're riding with them, just for the bill..........remember the slogan....."and leave the driving to us"(greyhound).....maybe that would work for you........good luck Charmin.....johnny

I understand COMPLETETLY!!  

I didn't have anything to do with my son learning how to drive but when it was my daughter's turn....  YIKES!  I only rode with her twice!  I couldn't stand it!  I don't think it was me, honestly, I think she had no clue!!  She wouldn't take drivers ed and I drove her around until she was 18; I then set a time limit for her and her daddy....  Daddy only practiced with her like two times, she took the test & voila!!  Passed both parts with flying colors!  Hmmm, maybe it was me!  LOL

Susie

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You do it in the shower,
you do it in the car,
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Three words --- Sears Driving School.  Maybe they don't have them anymore, but they did in the '90s.  Let a "professional" worry about it and enjoy the car insurance discounts later!

I wouldn't be able to deal with it.  I'm a slower driver than my 80 year old father (who came home from a business trip 5 years ago glowing after receiving the first speeding ticket of his life on the Mass pike).  Whenever I drive as a passenger I slam the breaks on and fidget everytime the person driving shoot's out into a main road assuming an oncoming car traveling at around 60mph is within 100 yards. I don't trust mechanical things like cars assuming they always will come thru.  Especially after owning plenty of initial junker's that'd stall as soon as you pull out from the stop sign into the main express.. CT. drivers are known to be a bit stupid behind the wheel of a car.. I think this state ranked worst drivers... Many flirt with several lives the way they drive around here...and assume their car will always respond very quickly when cutting into a fastlane from a side-road..

I'm a lousy passenger.. Just a nervous wreck in general

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Hahaha..... I know. I was an insurance agent myself for 8 years, and I always tried to clue people in BEFORE they got their kids' licensed. And- that is why my 2nd son is not licensed YET. They have to be getting good enough grades to be eligible for the "good student discount" or I wont let them take the test. He wasn't- but his last report card, his grades had been brought up. He's 17- shoulda been driving already. But, rules are rules. My daughter, on the other hand..... has always been a straight A student...... so I can't hold her off any longer.  LOL  And they also have to have a part time job to pay 1/2 the cost of their own insurance.  And my son does, he's had a job for a year now, and is very responsible with his money. He has a truck, and it's all been fixed over the last year & it's ready to go...... so, the time has come I guess. (for me to run and hide, LoL)



I think actually that my daughter will be easier. She's driven, on backroads..... and we used to let them drive the wood truck through the field to the woods, for practice. (and cause there was NOTHING out there they could hit, haha)

But she is , "female", she pays attention to detail more than the boys do, she will listen more closely, and be willing to be "taught".  That's how I was, I didn't just want to "drive"... I wanted to be a "good driver".... you know, show my brothers up.  :D I think the boys have an image thing..... they just want to KNOW how to drive, they don't want to go through a slow learning process. They're just a bit of overachievers IMO. And I'm sitting there all pale faced screaming "No, slow down"..... "Hit the BRAKE"..... "Quit tailgating"..... "Get across the railroad tracks, hurry"..... "Don't go yet, there's a CAR coming".... etc. And- the usual teenage boy response, "It's okay mom, I got it just fine".

I'm no a panicy person in cars, but I usually prefer to drive myself as to ride with someone else. This, I just can't do. And even my daughter in law, she isn't licensed yet, she has just her permit. She asked me last summer to help teach her. Uh-uh, not me. Nowadays, she only asks my husband. I think I literally scare them to death. Lonnie, on the other hand...... is "mister calm" when the kids are driving. I don't know how he does it, but he never loses his cool.



They do have a drivers ed program at the high school, they have class after school- and they have cars they take the kids out in. I think, he might do okay in this. If nothing else, because they'd have a compact car to learn in. All they drive is my Bronco and Lonnie's truck. (which is a 4 speed)  Zach learned in the Suburban and his '64 GMC (3 speed on the column). Maybe not the best starter vehicles. But hey,  I guess that way they'll be capable of driving whatever. Kids that learn in small automatice cars sometimes drive for years without being able to drive a manual.

Just....... as long as I don't have to teach them....... I'm cool with it. Then I'll panic the first few times they pull out of the yard on their own. Typical mom stuff.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

.. let me just tell you this, because I got MY license only like some 5 years ago..

The very FIRST time my mom ever let me drive was on the way home from the grocery store. She had this buick skylark that was pretty manageable and I was doing really well. So, we get to my driveway, and I have to park parallel to our van, right in front of the garage. I start turning and suddenly she's screaming, telling me I'm gonna hit the van. (I wasn't going to hit the van.) So she grabs the steering wheel, yanks it around and yells "BRAKES BRAKES"... what do I do (I'm panicking now..) I HIT THE GAS! Yep, took a couple months to repair the garage, and my dad wasn't too happy. My friend in the backseat thought it was hilarious though!!

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Oh my GOD.... you're my father, LmAo. To this day, my dad tries to tell me how to drive. And, really, I'm a good driver. I'm cautious, I drive safe. (never had the slightest accident) Well, except when I was 16 and landed in an irrigation ditch in Lonnie's dads truck... but it caught on fire... and I was scared to death. (My hugest fear.... is fire..... of any kind, so I did a major panic) Anyhow, my dad will freak on me. I'm going too fast.... the radios too loud..... I'm taking off too quickly from stoplights...... I'm not signaling in time-  he's bad.



Oh,I had a very similar thing happen. I was about 13.... my sis decided to let me drive her fiance's truck. (this really cool 60's model GMC 4x4... all jacked up, really awesome truck) Well, SHE was a panic attack waiting to happen. She was gonna let me drive it around on the farm we lived on. I was backing up towards one of the fields, and she just goes berserk "Okay, slow down now, hit the brake..... hit the BR-AKE"..... and I did just that: Started to slam the brake, and my foot hit the gas. We went flying backwards, and somehow subconciously..... I moved my foot to the brake in time. We stopped mere inches from a rack of irrigation pipe (very spendy stuff, haha). Driving lesson over. Surprisingly enough though, she is the one who taught me to drive a 5 speed a couple years later. Brave girl.  LOL

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Haha... yeah, I wasn't allowed to drive anything with wheels for awhile...

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I was a CSR for a P&C independent agency for about 5 years, then an underwriter for non-standard auto for another 6 years or so... small world.



I always wanted to prove I could do anything (with a few obvious exceptions  LOL ) a guy could do so I understand that one!  

Susie

_________________
You do it in the shower,
you do it in the car,
Ccome do it with us,
and be a star!!!!

Karaoke with Full House Entertainment

[scroll]Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean...... [/scroll]

Yeah,  I sort've freaked my mom out yesterday, She shot out in front of a car I thought was too close, and I started flailing my arms, and slamming my feet around.. She scared the $&#* out've me, and thinking I'd gone into some sort've grand mal seizure, I scared the hell out've her...I guess I need to learn relaxation technique's again      Like,  Shut me eye's and inhale..

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

haha

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Yep, small world. One of the job opportunities I'm looking at is actually going back into insurance. I let my license go in 2003.... thought I wanted to explore other stuff. But there's a really good position here, with a local Independent Agency.... so I may be looking at doing my training & licensing again. I worked for a couple Independents, but mainly for Allstate.  Not sure if I want to really get back into it, though my family are all encouraging it.  That schooling and CE junk again- ick. I did fairly well at it, I just came to hate the industry. So I gotta think carefully on this, I don't want to be job hunting again in a few years.



Yeah, that's kinda a rule when you got a couple older brothers I think. I flat refused to be left behind, haha. Be it driving, fishing, knife throwing contests, climbing trees, I had to prove I could keep up. I hear ya there. (ya Tomboy!!)  LOL

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

My daughter is in driver's ed in school right now. They take them out driving only a few times. She has a requirement to fill of 25 hours of driving at home with a parent.
Beleive me that is a lot. She has to have this 25 hour driving sheet completed before she can take her drivers test. If you send them to an independent driving school it cost $400 and they still only do what the school does. The actual driving experience itself is left up to the parent. The book knowledge is taught by the school.

As far as insurance - I learned with my older daughter. The discount for good grades
is peanuts. If she doesn't have her own car I have to put a rider on my insurance for
her (no way around it) that makes my insurance go way up. My older daughter has her own car and until she is 21 her insurance is rediculous. The best way I have found around this problem is - put her car under her name. If she gets into a bad accident they can't take my assests away from me and she has nothing to lose. This way I can use a cheap insurance company. She has good grades, no tickets, and no accidents and her insurance is still $150 a month.

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My kid wrecked  2 cars this month. Totalled his grandpa's Nissan and bent up the fender on my work car. So now if he wants to drive hes got to get his OWN CAR and pay the insurance on it.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

My insurance is too low.  Who do I complain too...   I'm quite lucky.  $122 every 6 months.  It pays to drive like an old lady, and have senior citizens flipping me off for driving too slow !  It'd be interesting to have a poll.. How many over 35 have never gotten a speeding ticket ? I did total a car, yet that was in 1983, no record of that any longer.  Hey,  now that I'm 50, do I get a reduced rate again ?

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

my son won't get in the car if I'M driving     i had nothing to do with his learning to drive, i told his dad from day one he would be responsible for that, i couldn't handle it....worked out great....i'll do the same for the next one coming up  :D

I my country you need to go to a driving school before you can take the driving test.
First a 6hrs theory class followed by a written test. You need to score 43 out of 50 to pass. Then another 8hrs of workshop theory/practical. Only then you are issued an Learner licence.

Then a minimum of 30 days of driving with an instructor  before you do the practical test. If you pass you will be given a P licence (Probationary). You will have to drive a car with a sticker that show the P sign at both rear and front of the screen for the next 2 years. A traffic ticket will be a bad thing during that probation period.

Still with all those stupid procedures we have one of the highest road dead rate in the world.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott