Reply to Is your 14yo taking driving lessons or practicing driving?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What I think is absolutely bonkers is there are so many parents that don’t let their 13-15 year olds sit in the front seat. How are you supposed to be a good driver at 15 1/2 when you get your permit if you have no experience scanning traffic, observing intersections, navigating.

My kids moved to the front seat at 10. I have been talking about how to be a safe driver since then. I make them navigate, ask them questions, point  out things- look that car is going to run the red because they entered the intersection as the light went from yellow to red, look a school bus so get ready to stop, that drivers looks like they are 100 so give them space, etc.

They started driving in parking lots at 15. The younger one was with us when we visited a family’s rural property so drove slowly on their property at 14. They easily passed their drivers tests at 16.

It seems so strange there are so many kids who aren’t learning to drive or who barely drive in 11th and 12th grade. A friend’s daughter got her license senior year and barely has driven. Now she is going to college in an urban setting so won’t be driving there. So at 22 if she needs to drive she won’t really have had experience. [/quote]

Because it doesn't add to your driving skills long term to learn at 16 vs 19 or 25, PP. The teen age group is BY VERY FAR the one with most fatal accidents behind the wheel. So there's no incentive to start young, unless you have an impediment to driving your teen to school or activities (what did you do before, then?). I keep reading on DCUM that "this is how we used to do it", but if you're intellectually honest with yourself, convention and tradition are not winning arguments.

I got my license at 19, even though I didn't need it because I lived in a big city with great public transport. My cousin learned to drive in her 30s. She's a perfectly good driver - just didn't need to learn before. DC1 learned to drive at 17 during the pandemic because we were stir-crazy, not because it was a "rite of passage". He's in an urban college and doesn't drive now :-) We'll see what DC2 wants to do.

You sound a bit like the parents of younger kids who like to out-boast each other on how young their kids were when they started chores. Newsflash: it doesn't matter. Chores are easy. There's no barrier to entry. I left my parents' home without having done much laundry, grocery shopping or cooking, and lo and behold, had no trouble whatsoever looking after myself and cooking with my boyfriend, then husband, then kids. None of these things are difficult!

You get no parenting bonus points for foisting chores, teen jobs and driving onto your kids early. Parents often don't realize it, but a lot of what motivates them is just empty virtue-signaling.

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