Are your tweens/young teens interested in driving?

DS is almost 17. I think he would be content to never drive. I bring it up once a month or so and he always says he'll start looking at the manual "soon". He said if he gets his drivers license, I'll make him run errands for him so why bother.

DD1 wasn’t very interested until about 15.5 .. and then was very impatient to be turned loose on her own. 🙄

DD2 got her learners permit as soon as she could - and then for a variety of reasons didn’t drive much for a few months.

We chose to follow their lead and not push the issue until they were motivated to want it for themselves.

I am sooooooooooo glad that I only have 2 to teach to drive - it’s nerve wracking.

17 year old, no.
15 year old, maybe.
12 year old, yes.

Washington has extra hoops to jump through if you are under 18 such as requiring driving school which is $500+ and 36 hours and an additional (according to the website) 40 hours of daytime and 10 hours of nighttime driving practice.

3 kids - 2 are 25. One drives. Other will uber everywhere and has zero interest in driving.

3rd - 15. Doubt it. She doesn't want to go anywhere.

Yes, very. My oldest is almost 18, due to ankle surgery and then covid she was almost 17 before she got her license. At 14 she was begging us to take her parking lot driving. Once she was licensed she tried to drive almost every day.

I have almost 15 year old twins. My son has gone parking lot driving several times, his sister is less interested. Technically they could be in drivers ed right now and take their permit test in April. We have a tough time fitting in classes so they will take them this summer and be a bit behind their peers.

Both of my kids were VERY anxious to drive and I was happy to give them the ability to drive themselves around. Yes, my kids definitely run errands for me and sometimes help pick up my younger kids when we are stretched thin getting everyone places but neither of them mind. They LOVE the freedom and I think it has helped them mature. DS is 19 and split the driving on a recent road trip with my DH. It was a huge help and such a nice relief for DH (I was working from the passenger seat or else I would have helped drive too). We will "encourage" our younger kids to get their licenses ASAP after they turn 16. My 17 year old DD has early morning sports (leaves the house at 5:30 a.m.) and an after school activity every day. I have no idea how we would manage to get her everywhere she needs to be if she wasn't driving herself.

My kids weren’t super excited like we were as kids. My daughter got hers at 17 1/2, halfway through her junior year. But she does everything slower so I wasn’t surprised. My son got it at 16 1/2 at the beginning of his junior year. He is now glad he has it, but most of his friends still don’t. We just told them they needed it before they finished high school. We live somewhere without much public transportation though so I’m sure it would be different in a big city. It is also a much bigger pain to get it than when we were kids.

My 17 year old wasn’t very interested but we made him get his permit yesterday. I took him to a parking lot to practice and he’s starting to get excited.

My kids got theirs the day they could.

I teach hs and there are a lot of kids that don't get it until they are 18 or older.

DD is finally showing an interest - 18, soon to be 19, Autistm +.

She is getting car off behind the wheel lessons with DH to just be comfortable in the car and learn everything slowly. We have to break things down then piece them together for her.

She hopes this summer to do the class with AAA, get her permit and then do behind the wheel lessons. We may do it twice for extra support. None of us are in a rush right now. 

She takes classes on line and I still have to attend all of her medical appointments so I drive anyways. But when she transfers to a 4 year in 2 years or so she will need to drive then. 

my kids are 32, 32, and 35. my oldest drives, and got his license at 18. his driving drives me nuts.. too fast. too close.

one of my 32 has autism and no interest in driving and probably shouldn't drive. her twin got a permit at 17, never really learned or pushed it and doesn't drive now. we are urban though, and you can take buses, trains and ubers everywhere.

DS had no desire to ever drive. DD couldn’t wait.

DS put off getting his license until I basically told him that he just had to take the test. That he didn’t have to drive if he didn’t want to after that. He did his behind the wheel over the summer between his junior and senior year. (The BTW instructor administers the test.) A week later, one of the moms in our carpool bought a truck without enough seatbelts for all the kids. We dropped out of the carpool and DS drove himself and DD to school every day for the rest of the year. And he found that while he didn’t really like driving, he liked the freedom that it gave him. He also liked that he could come and go from football practice and didn’t have to call me to come and pick him up and then wait for me to get there. (Practice used to end at weird times, often with 2-3 hours difference from day to day.)

DD had her BTW scheduled before school got out and had the BTW hours done long before she was even eligible for her license. The BTW instructor gave me her license paperwork and said that it wasn’t legal until X day. DD woke up that morning and asked for it immediately. I made the rule that for the first 6 months, she couldn’t have a passenger. Then it was only a friend that I approved ahead of time. She too loved the freedom to just come home after play practice or run to Starbucks before practice.

Among my kids, nieces, nephews, and their friends, there are a handful or so who just have no interest. They basically want to hold off as long as possible on driving.

I can understand it. Driving can be stressful, and kids are already under a lot of pressure these days. So some of them figure if they can work around it, they will. It hasn't stopped them from holding down jobs, attending college, hanging with friends. It has, on the other hand, saved them stress and money.

I myself didn't drive the moment my state allowed it. I waited until after high school. I passed both my written and practical tests the first time, so it didn't seem as though the wait had any sort of negative impact. Now, I encourage my own kids to drive when they wish to drive--whether that's 16, 18, 22, or 76.