Ouch!

[RonMar]

Riding lawnmower or 4 wheeler... Allows them to see the relationship between wheel position and turn rate. It is also excellent to start out parallel parking. Both my kids started out this way, and did their first parallel parking between sawhorses on a quad or a mower. When they got into the car and tried it, it was a piece of cake for them to parallel.

As mentioned, if you don't have patience, let someone else do it. Teaching your kids a complex and potentially hazardous skill can be rewarding for both of you, or a terrifying and frustrating experience for both. It is all in the approach. Start with small tasks to build confidence. Do not run a lesson any longer than 30 minutes. That is a long time to be behind the wheel when you are uncomfortable and under pressure. After a certain point, you start to loose ground and not retain anything. Better to end the lesson short on a success, than go too long and end on a failure.

 

[mjarrels]

I never thought about the go carts... My son runs the go cart track at a local resort... She can ride all day for free!

mark

 

[RobJ]

I never thought about the go carts... My son runs the go cart track at a local resort... She can ride all day for free!

mark

Get them a Wii!

 

[Kendrick]

In ks you had to go to drivers ed to get a permit at 15 or 16 and a full dl at 18 i think.

at drivers ed it was horible for me. my driving "partner" nearly ran us in a ditch 2 or 3 times a session. I litteraly put my coat over my head and waited for it to be over. his parents were told not to bring him back after the 3rd of 8 sessions. Me on the other hand I had no problems with it.

a person freazes over different stuff. the gocart may be just the ticket since its "fun" if they have the bumper sites so the kids just kinda bounce of it would be better so she gets the whole wake up moment if shes to close...

some people just cant handle it at all even though they supposedly passed the drivers courses to get a licence

hay bird you need to give em a good lesson at 2am in a iced over parking lot up here. teach them real good about haserdous stopping

I plan to give the kids a nightmare course when that time comes. 4 foot deep banks and sharp icey turns. let em go bonkers. with 8 ac of hay land im sure i could get several streets worth out of it.

 

[tallyho8]

I had a lifelong friend who seemed quite normal in all respects but could not ride a bicycle or drive a car. He got a general discharge from the air force after 3 years because he couldn't drive. He retired from the state transportation department after 20 years but always had a non-driving position. He was commonly know as "Walking Charlie" as he walked everywhere he went and was always seen walking along the highway. He never had an ounce of fat on his body and he passed away with pneumonia at 65 a few months ago.

 

[turnkey4099]

I had a lifelong friend who seemed quite normal in all respects but could not ride a bicycle or drive a car. He got a general discharge from the air force after 3 years because he couldn't drive. He retired from the state transportation department after 20 years but always had a non-driving position. He was commonly know as "Walking Charlie" as he walked everywhere he went and was always seen walking along the highway. He never had an ounce of fat on his body and he passed away with pneumonia at 65 a few months ago.

I _told_ my doc that exersize is bad for you

Harry K

 

[rox]

My Daughter (age 15) just received her drivers license (leaners)... Wife says I need to teach her to drive... She won't drive a tractor, doesn't have a clue which way the front wheels are turned... just clue less on how to drive? HELP... I want to let my son (age 20) to teach her... he is good (I tought him)

mark

Mark,\
Your topic sent shivers down my spine. Although we sent both our kids to Sears driving school it is still up tot he parents to really teach them how to drive and give them a lot of experience with the parent as the passanger. I have nothing but terrifying memories of teaching my kids to drive. One thing my hsuband and I di is we split up the responsibiliteis. I did city driving and he did expressway driving. Our kids grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee where thier driving area was a state highway that was completely commercialized on both sides and had a roadway that was 3 travel lanes in each direction and a full sized hazard lane and at the intersections 2 turning lanes. I mean this road was huge.

I'll never forget teaching my son when he was making a turn onto this huge roadway formt he traffic light to make a wide turn and right away get in the left hand lane if up ahead he would be wanting to turn left. He told me that was not the way he was taught but he soon learned if he didn't do it my way he could never get across 3 lanes of traffic to make the left hand turn ahead. The only upside to this terrifying experience was that I fugured if my kids could leanr to drive in this environment then they would be able to drive anywhere. To this day I am still thankfull I did not ahve to teach how to merge onto the expressway. I really did try to stay calm and supportive but unlike the better people above who have psoted I let out quite a few four letter words, couldn't help myself.

My son had a habit of his which drove me crazy. We would be approaching a signalized intersection I would tell him to brake well ahead fo the intersection. he wouldn't listen! he felt he had plenty of time to break and would wait. Finally one time when he approached the intersection way way to fast I just screamed at him, "When I f**ing tell you to break you break!" I had him pull into a gas station so I could continue screaming at him. I positivily hated teaching my children to drive but I did it because it had to be done. I ma so glad I never ever every have to go through that again. About 2 years ago we were talkign about something about learning how to drive and my son repeated back to me what i had screamed at him about breaking. So int he worst possible way I guess I did get my message thorugh so that 10 years later he still remembers it.

Good luck to you. Bird's grandson is extreemly extreemly lucky. I bet there was no screaming at all in that car, just quiet confident leadership. His daughter still to this day probably does not have a clue how lucky they are to have a grandfather who would do what he did. I would have given anything to not have to have that burden but no family lived around us so there were no other options and I sure wasn't going to have my kids on the road with jsut the course form the driving school. Your psot brings back terrible memories. The main thing the kids need is practice, practice and practice. It is months where they are still learning and doing the driving and you are stuck int he passangers seat. When our son comes over Christmas I'm going to teach him stick shift which he does not know and has always wanted to learn. But that will be on the farm with an adult son way much different than a 15 year old boy who figures he knows when to break more than you do, geesh... Good luck!!! GoooooooD Luck!

 

[sandman2234]

If you guys think teaching a kid to drive is hard, you ought to try teaching people to drive a tractor trailer. It can become extremely interesting. I still have a mile marker post that one took out with the center grill of my truck at 70 mph. That preceded the trip down into the ditch and then back out of it, dispite my continous objections. Trooper ended his driving by forbidding him to drive in that state, and safety ended his carreer the next day. He was a nice guy, age 62 who had lost his job and was trying to learn a new career to make it to age 65. I think he went on to drive a dump truck in a quarry. Too many stories to list here....
David from jax

 

[Bird]

Rox, you're right; no screaming or quarreling with my grandson, maybe that was partially due to him being a better learner than my daughters and partially due to me being older and having more time. I was sometimes too impatient with my daughters.

Of course we've been talking about teaching the kids to drive, but my wife was 21 when we got married and she had never driven a car. Her mother never drove a car or had a license, and her only sister (now 68) never drove. So when we got married, I started trying to teach my bride to drive, and I know I wasn't as patient with her as I should have been. But anyway, a day came when she wanted to go take the test to get her license, and quite frankly I didn't think she could pass the test. But I thought maybe if she took the test and flunked it, she'd get more serious about learning, so off we went to the DPS office.

Well, it turned out that the examiner was in one of my college classes and recognized me. I still say that's the only reason she passed.

Of course, she's been driving in Dallas traffic now for over 40 years and the only accident she's had was when she was rear ended on the freeway over 30 years ago. And no traffic tickets at all.

 

[coobie]

My Daughter (age 15) just received her drivers license (leaners)... Wife says I need to teach her to drive... She won't drive a tractor, doesn't have a clue which way the front wheels are turned... just clue less on how to drive? HELP... I want to let my son (age 20) to teach her... he is good (I tought him)

mark

I taught all four kids how to drive a stick shift,sometimes it was scary.LOL.A time our two they almost took out the front fence going up our driveway,funny now but not back then.Good luck.coobie