Would you let your teens drive 7 hours on the highway?
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Anonymous
After my dd freshman year in college (she was 19) she worked for her university as a trip leader for their outdoor adventure trips. After her first trip she was explaining that they drove the campers 4 hours to a base camp and then backpacked for 5 days then drove back to the university. I asked her what adult did the driving of the 15 passenger van. She laughed at me and said "Mom, I'm the adult. I did the driving. I took the 4 hour course two weeks ago and am a certified driver for the university." It was a big wake up call to me that my 19 yr old was indeed an adult in the world's eyes. We are giving her younger siblings a lot more behind the wheel time while they are still at home to help them prepare for when they leave home and will be thrown into all kinds of possible driving situations. Same dd played a club sport and carpooled to an away match 3 hours away. She was the youngest player in the car and not the driver. BUT the driver got injured at the match and could not drive home. Turns out my then 18yr old was the only other player with a driver's license so she drove the players home. Unfamiliar roads, car full of loud friends in a car she had never driven. They made it back safely but it was a situation we had avoided when she lived at home and we had not prepared her for. |
Anonymous
OP here, My mother’s physician, who I reached by phone, suggested that based on what I found when I arrived, she be taken to the ER to see if a UTI or an infection was contributing to the relatively rapid decline in her strength, stamina and mobility, so we did so. Of course she will need other appointments while we figure out next steps, but this was the one she suggested we take immediately. Because of the need for urgent medical care, leaving and returning a few days later wasn’t an option. Hence my question about how to get my kids home. |
Anonymous
I think this is the right answer. I'm sorry you're going through this. I have three kids, and I would only trust one of them to drive 7 hours. The oldest, so obviously he has the most experience, but he also loves driving and has had lots of experience with 3- to 4-hour trips. I'm trying to have the others get more experience, but they are NOT ready, IMO. |
Anonymous
| My parents allowed me to drive from PA to MD with friends when I was a senior in high school. Part of this trip was in the dark. We did almost run head long into another car, but did not have an accident. All of which is to say, maybe not to be honest. We were very responsible, but we didn’t know what we didn’t know, if that makes sense. |
Anonymous
Which is what? What didn't you know? I think it's absurd. I was driving myself and a trailer full of horses all over the East Coast at 17. Never had a problem. |
Anonymous
| No. I don't even like driving that long. |
Anonymous
| This must be an east coast thing. 7 hours driving is nothing. I drove back and forth from college freshman year, which was a 6-hour drive, sometimes in the snow. |
Anonymous
| So, OP what happened. Tuesday has come and almost gone. |
Anonymous
| Fly him back |
Anonymous
I updated on page 1 that I flew them back. But just in case you didn't know, it's still Monday. Tuesday has neither come nor gone. |