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[quote=Anonymous]
I was like that. My son was like that.

Anxiety is a terrible burden, isn't it? Also, it can be a great gift. My son and I are the opposite of the overconfident, risk-taking driver.

You'll just have to take it really slow, OP. This will actually be great for her confidence. It's like exposure therapy for her anxiety. Reassure her. Be kind.

And start on a parking lot. The first dozen hours we never went out of a large medical building parking lot 15 minutes away from our house. We drove DS there on weekends when it was unused. He spent his time staying in his lane, turning left and right, reversing straight and left and right, trying to park. It was a huge lot, with a slope at the end and he could do a complete turn around the building. At first I thought he was going to run down the slope, forget to turn and land in the bushes. Then when he started reversing, it looked as though wherever he started out from, the back of the car was drawn like a magnet to a concrete-block lamp post. 
Hours like that. But it did get him more confident in his basic maneuvers before he started doing small residential streets and then highways and then beltway and interstate.

A word about instructors. We mistakenly went with Habesha driving school in downtown Bethesda, since it was closest to our house. I do NOT recommend it! He had his first lesson after a dozen hours of parking lot driving. The instructor showed up late, then made him go on the BELTWAY and beyond to buy groceries and bring them to his mother in a senior home. My son arrived 40 minutes late home, we were getting worried, and he stepped in and said: "I survived". And then he collapsed on the couch and did nothing the rest of the day.

Also want to point out that the driver's skills test is a complete joke. Just a reverse into a parking spot and drive through the neighborhood streets. Parents had better do their own training if they want their kids to be reliable and safe drivers!

Good luck. Tell your DD if I could do it and DS could do it, she can do it too!!!

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