How do you decide when teens learning to drive...

In California, teens have to take driver's education at a driving school to even get a permit if they're under 18. They then have to have a certain number of hours driving with a certified instructor. They also have to log a certain number of hours behind the wheel with parents and have to accomplish certain tasks. With the instructor, both of my kids drove on the freeway the first day. Around here, that's pretty scary.

Even if your state doesn't require it, I highly recommend driving school.

Back when it was still around, my son took Drivers Ed in school. I rode with him, watched him drive and when I was assured he could handle it AND passed it in school, let him get his license. It's a scary process and I agree, I would recommend a driving school as well.

MetLife has a guide on their website you may want to check out. We started with neighborhoods, 25 mph type streets and just gradually added longer and faster trips. We have an interstate that we can use to get from our house to some close by shopping, so we did that as her first highway, so it would be up one exit only.

I would love to hire a driving instructor to take my daughter to practice driving on highways, in the city and to parallel park. It would be worth the money! She would do better listening to him than to her parents. Also, a driving instructor could better tell if she is able to move forward than I would. My parents hired a driving instructor to give me private parallel parking lessons. We found him through our driver's ed course.

Driving is the only thing that has worried me about having a teenager. Other than driving, it's been really fun and easy teen years! She just turned 17 and hasn't gotten her learner's permit yet. She isn't in a hurry which is surprising as she is one of the youngest in her grade (senior) and others have been driving for a couple of years.

We had a driving instructor do DS's hours. Besides the time he spent with her, anytime I had to go anywhere I made him drive me. He actually enjoyed it since driving was so new and it gave me plently of time to work with him and get him exposed to different types of roads. He got his learners in December and his license the following August.

I started highway driving when we were coming home from vacation. We were in the middle of wisconsin when my dad got a terrible migraine. My mom never drove the highway and did not feel confident. I had to take over. I drove a couple of hours while my dad rested after aspirin and coffee. So, for me, it was out of necessity. I did a great job, too. I do not suggest an emergency to get your daughter on the road, but she may be more ready than you think. Maybe try rural highways first, but oncoming passers are scary.

I kind of let mine take the lead. He had been driving on the family farm for years and drives and grades dirt the road there. He started out in our quiet neighborhood then in our little town and when he was ready we went out on the highway at Dawn in a a Saturday. Very little traffic. Now at 17 he drives to NC and back by himself.

Are her friends driving? Half DD's friends have no interest in getting their license, but I'm not sure why. It seems to be they either get their permit & license as soon as they can, or they wait until they are 18 and older.

DS is a little more nervous about driving and voiced concern about being able to control a car, so we aren't putting pressure on him to get his permit. Unless you have a real need for your DD to be driving herself places, I would back off.


Slight hijack. CA no longer includes parallel parking in the road test, does your state?

One other thing--at least in Illinois kids can earn the right to receive a "Bypass" which allows them to skip the driving test portion when getting their license. They have to score so high at all levels of the learning phase. Just yesterday dd made a mistake in BTW and her instructor told her she unfortunately lost the opportunity for the bypass.

So yeah, it's gonna take some time.

DS just took his test 2 weeks ago and didn't need to parallel park. He was thrilled!

He has had his permit for about 2 years. He just wasn't ready earlier. He wasn't confident, and we lost 6 months when DH was deployed and I was ill. There just wasn't anyone to take him.

We started in parking lots. Then on neighborhood roads, then rural roads. He was a nervous driver and you could tell when he wasn't comfortable. So I watched a lot of his body language. Then I just had him drive me everywhere. If he was in the car, he was driving. That helped a lot, and I could be his spotter. We live in northern Virginia, where you almost need combat training to drive. It's crazy. We didn't do his behind the wheel until I knew he was ready to pass the test, as the BTW instructors are the ones to give the test. He passed on the first try and did well. But I still make him drive me everywhere.

That first time he pulled out of the driveway alone, I almost had a panic attack. I was literally shaking, I was so nervous. He was only going to the school for football practice and ran into traffic, so it took him twice as long to get there. It was the longest 15 minutes of my life. But he did fine and I can see the confidence take a huge boost after only 2 weeks. I think being on his own and being responsible for himself has been good. And he likes not having to wait for me to come and get him after football practice!

Legally they can drive at 14 but I made a rule of 16. I think it depends on the kid. Just because they can doesn't mean they should.