Bone Up on Your Own Skills
As you begin teaching your teen to drive, you’ll probably be great at covering the basics. From the good ol’ “Keep your hands at 10 and 2” to leaving smartphones in the backseat, you might feel like you have a solid handle on preparing your teen to drive. However, because you’ve been driving for many years and do things on instinct, you might neglect to teach your teen everything they need to know.
Before you start driving lessons, you might want to refresh your memory by checking out the “TeenDrivingPlan” at TeenDriverSource.org. The interactive, Web-based program features an impressive 53 videos — don’t worry, they’re brief and interesting — that’ll help guide you in creating a positive, thorough, and up-to-date learning environment for your teen.
Set Up a Variety of driving lesson Conditions
As The Zebra notes, once your teen has plenty of practice driving in parking lots and neighborhoods under their belt, it’s time to up the ante and teach them how to handle less-than-ideal driving situations. As you know quite well from your years behind the wheel, getting from Point A to Point B is not always easy — it can involve avoiding crazy drivers who are texting while speeding, maneuvering around construction zones, and driving in rainstorms.
Set up practice driving sessions for your teen in a variety of locations and conditions, including at nighttime and during bad weather. As driving-tests.org notes, start out by having your teen drive at night, or through an empty parking lot in a rain or snowstorm. Once they become acclimated in driving in these less-than-ideal conditions, repeat the lesson on the open road. Driving-tests.org also features a great set of tips for teens on defensive driving, including the importance of giving other drivers enough room and never cutting off anyone.
Be Patient and Empathetic
Teaching your teen how to drive can be nerve-racking. But as Family Education notes, having a calm, comfortable driving environment is a crucial step in creating safe and mature drivers. If your teen accidentally blows a stop sign, resist the urge to call them unsafe or dangerous. Focus as much as you can on the positive things your teen is doing while behind the wheel — soon enough, it will become instinctual. In the end, a positive attitude will help your teen stay calm and relaxed, and will create a more conducive learning environment, which, in turn, will make for a better driving student.
