Anonymous wrote:Meh, it's a life skill if you want to travel anywhere off the beaten path, which I hope my kids will also do. So I'll push them to have it before they leave HS. Even if they rarely drive after that. Of all my friends who grew up in the city (I'm from outside NY) only 1 was the typical "I grew up in the city, we don't learn to drive" examples by late teens. Eschewing learning to drive as some sort of urban cred is as stupid as painting learning to drive as a massive rite of passage, Americana blah blah blah thing. It's a skill, you might need it, just learn it.

My sister lives in a town in NJ. One of her neighbors lived in the City before moving to Jersey. She must have that same urban cred of not needing to learn to drive because she lives in the City.

Yeah - that might have worked for her when living in the city but she moved out to Jersey and still doesn’t know how to drive. She is always asking neighbors for rides to her kid’s activities.

Driving is a life skill. Everyone needs to learn it.

Anonymous wrote:Meh, it's a life skill if you want to travel anywhere off the beaten path, which I hope my kids will also do. So I'll push them to have it before they leave HS. Even if they rarely drive after that. Of all my friends who grew up in the city (I'm from outside NY) only 1 was the typical "I grew up in the city, we don't learn to drive" examples by late teens. Eschewing learning to drive as some sort of urban cred is as stupid as painting learning to drive as a massive rite of passage, Americana blah blah blah thing. It's a skill, you might need it, just learn it.

My sister lives in a town in NJ. One of her neighbors lived in the City before moving to Jersey. She must have that same urban cred of not needing to learn to drive because she lives in the City.

Yeah - that might have worked for her when living in the city but she moved out to Jersey and still doesn’t know how to drive. She is always asking neighbors for rides to her kid’s activities.

Driving is a life skill. Everyone needs to learn it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pp again - they walk, rent bikes, take the bus, and uber everywhere.

Yep, my 25 yr old still does this. Has a license, just doesn't want to but a car.

It may actually be cheaper than buying a car. Cars are expensive.

Anonymous wrote:My Wilson HS kid in DC is not interested - I finally had to force him to get his learners permit at 17. Most of his peers are not interested either.

I am forcing my Wilson DC to get his permit too.

He was not.

I think that there is more focus on safety than when we were kids, and as a result the kids have a healthy fear of the machine.

That said, we made sure he knew how to drive well before leaving the house, and sent him to driving school the summer after jr year. We thought it was better to learn while we controlled things.

Anonymous wrote:Why does being interested in driving and being able to drive have to be mutually inclusive? One can be able to drive but still not be interested in driving.

I think the largest reason for kids nowadays to not be interested in drivign is because of access and the comfort of their own homes. If they want to socialize, they just go online; if they want to buy something, they just go online; if they need to get to somewhere, they just Uber there. Not saying all kids are like that but I'm sure a significant portion of kids are not interested in driving because of that. However, teens will still be teens. I still know plenty of kids who can't wait to get their license and get out of the house on their own though, just probably not as many as when we were their age.

OP here --- I think this definitely applies to my kids. I grew up with three tv channels (plus PBS)... there were no computers, only a phone. If you wanted any kind of interaction, you had to leave your house. We were motivated and the small town was less intimidating to navigate... we new how to get everywhere b/c we had been on those same streets for 15 yrs (being driven around). My kids don't know the roads and they have all the interaction they want (unfortunately) on their devices. It will be like learning to swim -- my kids fought that all the way, but they both know how to swim now b/c I insisted on it. It just seems like my job as a parent involves so much more "pushing" than my parents had to do. It's exhausting sometimes to want more out of life for your kids than they do for themselves.

Anonymous wrote:pp again - they walk, rent bikes, take the bus, and uber everywhere.

Yep, my 25 yr old still does this. Has a license, just doesn't want to but a car.

pp again - they walk, rent bikes, take the bus, and uber everywhere.

You can't even get a learner's permit until 16 in DC. I asked my Wilson DS if any of his friends has a permit - not a one and no interest.

My 16.5 year old has her learner's permit and has dry van a few times but is not really interested. she mostly uses public transport and is not that social. My 14 year old can't wait. But she has an extracurricular that is not reachable by public transport and would love to have the freedom to go without me.

I'm in Los Angeles (Westside) and the culture has changed and the kids don't want to learn to drive. It was like a chess game to get my DD to take the online course, then the driving lessons. She got her license last week and is proud of herself, but most of her peers do not drive.

FYI, my younger 14 y.o. DD wants to drive "the SECOND" she is allowed to. But she's unusual.

Mine is counting down the days until she can get her learners permit.

She knows that having her permit and then getting her license doesn't mean she's going to have access to a car or that we're going to let her drive. Insurance is expensive and so being on our policy initially will help her benefit in terms of discounts, and set her up so that she can have a Good Driver discount established by the time she is on her own policy.

The current plan is she gets her learners permit at 15 and 9mos and her license at 16 and 6mos. That will give her a year with her license before she goes to college. 4 years of college while presumably maintaining a good driving record, and when she's graduated and ready to start her own life, her insurance rates will hopefully not be ridiculous. And she won't be limited to living places with decent public transportation.

Meh, it's a life skill if you want to travel anywhere off the beaten path, which I hope my kids will also do. So I'll push them to have it before they leave HS. Even if they rarely drive after that. Of all my friends who grew up in the city (I'm from outside NY) only 1 was the typical "I grew up in the city, we don't learn to drive" examples by late teens. Eschewing learning to drive as some sort of urban cred is as stupid as painting learning to drive as a massive rite of passage, Americana blah blah blah thing. It's a skill, you might need it, just learn it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friends' kids in the city are not interested. I think it is because they can go anywhere with Uber so easily. Parking is hard (both in terms of difficulty/fear for a new driver and finding it) in the city.

Who is paying for this Ubering exactly? Time to cut them off so that they can grow up.

Uh...so what does that have to with them being able to drive?

Why does being interested in driving and being able to drive have to be mutually inclusive? One can be able to drive but still not be interested in driving.

I think the largest reason for kids nowadays to not be interested in drivign is because of access and the comfort of their own homes. If they want to socialize, they just go online; if they want to buy something, they just go online; if they need to get to somewhere, they just Uber there. Not saying all kids are like that but I'm sure a significant portion of kids are not interested in driving because of that. However, teens will still be teens. I still know plenty of kids who can't wait to get their license and get out of the house on their own though, just probably not as many as when we were their age.