Only me Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 My dd (almost 16) just started driver's ed a few weeks ago. So far it has only been the classroom part. She won't start driving with the teacher for another week or two. In the meantime she got her learner's permit. So far I have only taken her driving in a parking lot. Today I got up the nerve to take her driving on a less crowded street. She did ok but I think I aged 10 years. First she had trouble staying on the road. She was worried about crossing the middle line so she tended to go to far to the right. The problem is that when I tell her that she is too far one way she tends to overcorrect. When I told her that she need to get over to the right she pretty much went off the road. Luckily there were only a few cars behind us and we were all traveling slow. For the rest of the drive she did fairly well until she had to make a turn. I thought we were going to end up in the ditch. Not to sound mean but I think this is going to be a real adventure teaching dd to drive. She is coordinated when it comes to dance yet is terribly uncoordinated in things sports, go-carts and now driving. Any suggestions? I think I did pretty well keeping my cool but now that I'm home I may break out a Mike's :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 :grouphug: We are teaching our thrid to drive and it does age you! LOL. Our other kids atleast had driver's ed, here we are on our own :ack2: . Hang in there, they DO learn. One day :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 ER got his license about a year and a half ago. At first, I made him call me as soon as he reached his destination every time he went somewhere. After he'd been driving 2-3 months I MADE myself not ask him to call. It has gradually gotten easier, but I still get really antsy when he's driving a long distance and not just around town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Dh & I went for a walk around our property this AM and were talking about having to get used to seeing another vehicle parked in the yard, and about how it really can not be that long since we were getting used to ER's new swing set in the yard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmamainva Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 It just takes time and practice! The more she drives, the better she'll be. For the 'first time events' (i.e., over a bridge, in a city, on the expressway), I had her Dad go with her, as he's much calmer than I am! :D And our state requires 40 hours of driving to get a license -- my daughter drove for an entire year before she got hers...40 hours just wasn't enough, in our opinion! But hang in there! She WILL get better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeachGirl Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 You may want to take her to a big open parking lot at a non-busy time for wherever that lot is located. Have her try to parallel park, pull into a parking spot, keep in the lane and everything else. Just do it where there aren't any cars. I have been teaching my daughter in school parking lots, shopping mall parking lots and in a big open field near our apartment. It takes lots of practice and YOU cannot sound stressed when you correct her. You just have to let her know in a calm voice how to do things. I remember my mother being unable to be the one to train me. She could not get over her fear of injury to me, her and the car. My dad did the training for each of us. Good luck. It is certainly a milestone. My dd will get her permit at the end of July. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cedarmom Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Do you have any business parks nearby? We have a few, they have roads, but little traffic. This was a good place to start. One time we let him drive to a friends house. The road was very twisty, with a big drop off on the right side. He kept edging closer and closer to the drop-off. His dad very calmy said, "Move a little to the left" I sat in the back and prayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 We are on our 3rd teen learning to drive. Lots of gray hairs. We let the driver's ed guy do the first 6 hours of behind the wheel with the current teen...and it was MUCH easier when we started driving with her. He started her in a cemetery (my sisters reports that's weird but where we live, a cemetery is a good starting place) and he gradually got her up to driving on a divided highway through road construction ( concrete barriers and all!). She's doing much better but has to wait 9 months and drive at least 50 hours before she can apply for her license...so she'll have experience driving on our snowy winter roads. It will happen...just stock up on Calgon and your favorite 'cover the gray' hair color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 My dd has the same fascination for the right side of the road. She has been driving for 8 mths now and has racked up untold hours behind the wheel including one 5 hour stretch of interstate with awful construction through part of it. I found that for starting out industrial parks on Sunday afternoons are great. After that, winding back roads. From those, in town (small). Next, it was onto the interstate. She can pull into parking spaces that are slanted very well. The unangled ones she needs to park away from other cars still. her interstate driving is better than in town because there are less cars/directions to have to keep up with. Problems we have encountered have included not being able to tell her right from her left, thus a right on red becomes a little illegal. had to rephrase that one to not include the word right. She also tends to forget to put the car in park before turning it off and getting out. This isn't so bad if she actually remembers to turn it off before she starts getting out of the car. I have also noticed that she drives MUCH better when she drives every day. It makes the putting it in park more of a habit. Now, her father just purchased a new car for himself and wants me to teach her to drive his old car, a manual transmission.....:willy_nilly: This cold be really interesting. I'm going to need one of these:chillpill: in a super-sized version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of prayer. And practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 We are teaching our 4th to drive, parent taught drivers ed. It has been an adventure and at times nerve racking. My 2nd one was the worse. We do live in the country so they can practice without a lot of traffic. God bless, Vicki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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