Teaching a kid to drive...

I wish I had some tips and tricks. My son was also relatively late to the driving game- got his license right at 18.

I'm the only parent who parents in his life, so I got to be the one, and only, teacher. It was literally the most stressful thing I've ever done. I'm a Veteran, Airborne and Air Assault, and got to go on several Uncle Sam sponsored trips. I also like extreme sports lol, I don't scare easily.

But, MY GOODNESS that boy must think brakes are thing that should only be used at the last second. The weeds on the right side of the road should touch the tires as they go by (I stay more center, center left when driving.) It is a badge of honor to not wait too long at an intersection... I could go on.

Hopefully, your daughter will be more like my daughter. "Drove like a Grandma" from day one. LOL Seriously though, good luck! I would definitely recommend a lot of parking lot driving, and neighborhood driving before out on the roads (I think our local Lowe's unofficially doubles as a drivers ed site!) Both so they get alot of the feel of the start/stop of the car, and the distances you want them to stop before stop signs etc, and parking in spaces with lines and no cars around you is a great way to get used to the size of the car, mirrors etc. And also, just as important- so you can get a little more comfortable with them behind the wheel. Also, know whether your state requires back up cameras to be turned off during parking etc.

Also, there should be a safe word, that literally means BRAKES NOW. Not "Stop" because you're about to say that a thousand times an hour.

Good luck!! 

And... it's really nice once they are driving! It's worth it!

My tip is pay for a private driving school. Best money I ever spent! Good luck with the lessons.

I will tell you what I did.

There were ground rules we agreed to in advance. By the time the school would turn over my ds's permit we were down to six months and he had not drive .

There would no yelling by either party. It either of us got upset, it would be park the car, have a snack or refreshment until we could calmly talk it out. If not, home for a rest.

We started in an empty parking lot with some lines. Stop and start. Nothing to hit so no need hard braking. We moved on to a office building parking lot. He learned to go into parking places. Stop at the end of rows and turn corners. Mind you he was learning to drive a manual transmission.

Next was on the road to a neighborhood with little traffice, small blocks with stop signs on some corners and none in others. Still no yelling..

For five months I had a chauffer every where I needed or wanted to go. The exception, no night driving on his permit.
We drove and the interstates, the NJ Turnpike, the parkway, in rain, I mean everywhere even in vacation, he drove.

If you are going to have issues and she gets upset, hirer some to go out with her. The trauma of difficulties can affect a kid for years.

Are you saying that kids only get 5 hours of actual professional driving tuition before their test and the rest is down to mum and dad??

I have no advice because I was the same way you are! omg. My ds spent more of his learning-to-drive time with dh because it just worked out that way. But then when dd came along dh was really busy at work. So it fell to me.   

Part way into her practice time she dislocated her knee. No more driving. Obviously I didn't want her to be injured (it happened in ballet) but honestly it saved me from the terror of teaching her to drive on our Northern Virginia roads/traffic.  

She went off to college without a license. Her first summer home she had knee surgery, so no driving. She knew she would need a car for her junior and senior years because of her internship, but she went back sophomore year after the knee surgery still with no license. And one of her lovely wonderful nerves-of-steel roommates took it on to give dd her road time. That suited me just fine, lol. Plus, it was a rural school in a small town with not much traffic. And she was able to easily make her appointment for the driving test...up here it's usually weeks and weeks before you can get the appointment. 

Yay for that roommate. Who is now an elementary school teacher where she needs those nerves of steel. lol

Ya, my kids had 3, 2 hr sessions with the driving school and the rest we kept in a log by the kids. They were supposed to have 60 hrs total I think, and 10 of those were supposed to be night hours.

I feel bad bc we never really practiced on the highway, and we should really get them that practice.

Dd didn't get her license until she was 19.  She had taken a course through school at 15, but health problems made it so she couldn't practice for a few years.  Dh tried to take her out on the road but he doesn't have the patience. I do not have the nerves.  Eventually I was about to pay for some intensive courses and her best friend said screw it and took her out and forced her to practice with her.  It worked!  I did take her out some after she had more practice and finally when she took the driver's test she did just fine.  Even in super heavy rain that *I* would have pulled over for!

Beyond the mechanics of operating the vehicle, I think the most important thing to teach is defensive driving. As each of my four boys was learning, I stressed keeping their head on a swivel to monitor what was going on with cars around them. I even phrased it as, “You’re not only driving your car, you’re driving every other car on the road too.” That reflects the way I feel about my own driving - I am confident in MY driving skills, but I have zero confidence in the skills of others.

Here in the UK learner drivers legally have to display L-plates when they are driving. There are rules around the size and colour of the L-plates (red L on a white background) which have to be displayed on the front and back of the vehicle. 

Once a learner passes their test they can display a P plate which lets other drivers know they are a newly qualified driver and hopefully will extend them some grace if they make an error. We all had to learn at some point.

I can't agree with this enough! After teaching 3 kids how to drive, we had enough and let someone else teach #4. Best money we ever spent and I have to say that she is a confident but careful driver.

That is how it is around where I live - 6 hours with the instructor and then 50 hours with the parents, 10 of which need to be night time driving. 

I used the app Road Ready, I think it is only available for iPhones. That helps track the time and will create a driving log. You can add notes on things they need to work on/what went well for each drive, if there were any weather issues. type of road they drove on, etc.  

We went to a large parking lot on the weekend and had them practice maneuvering in and out of spots and fake parallel parking several times. This was a lot that had a few cars parked in it but not many. Then once they felt comfortable with that, we moved to busier spaces.

Four daughters - I taught tampons, dh taught driving.

I canNOT do it. At all. First time I tried we both came home in tears.

We also used a private driving school and my dh supplemented with frequent lessons from home.