| There may be nothing more menacing and | | | | roads, the various bumps and valleys, the |
| frightening than teaching teens to drive. | | | | weather conditions, and how the car reacts to |
| White-knuckle adventure on the roads may not | | | | those things. If your teen begins his or her |
| seem like your idea of a good time, but | | | | driving experience by realizing how the car |
| eventually you will have to break down and | | | | reacts to different weather conditions, for |
| teach your teen to drive. Thankfully, there | | | | example, he or she is more likely to be able |
| are safer ways to accomplish this daunting | | | | to handle those conditions in important |
| task and make it out of the adventure with | | | | situations where safety is a priority. |
| your life and vehicle intact. | | | | |
| | | | Ease Into It |
| It's easy to take a teen on to a rural road | | | | |
| and let him or her have at it. City driving | | | | Try not to start your teen on parallel |
| is a lot more complex, however, and learning | | | | parking or pulling out of a slide on the |
| how to manage the various ins and outs of | | | | first day. Teens, as we all know by now, are |
| parallel parking, stopping, starting, and | | | | emotional animals and they need incessant |
| handling the general stop-and-go nature of | | | | reassurance and guidance. Whether they tell |
| rush hour traffic can make for hours of | | | | you this fact or not is certainly up for |
| guaranteed headaches. To stop the insanity, | | | | grabs, but the reality is that reassurance is |
| it's a good idea to take it easy and ease | | | | one of the key components when it comes to |
| your teen into the driving experience. | | | | teaching teens to drive. Alongside this |
| | | | reassurance are a willing spirit and a |
| Start Slow | | | | patient heart. Ease your teen into the |
| | | | driving experience by demonstrating |
| The teen driving adventure works best when it | | | | acceleration techniques, braking techniques, |
| starts out slow and works up to some of the | | | | and better ways to pay attention while |
| bigger, more challenging driving aspects. | | | | driving. Most teens learn by observing first |
| Start your teen slowly by backing out of the | | | | and by doing second. |
| driveway of your home and perhaps simply | | | | |
| driving around the block or to some sort of | | | | Model Responsibility |
| close location. Other options include | | | | |
| starting off in a parking lot and allowing | | | | A third piece of general advice when it comes |
| the teen to get a feel for the car or | | | | to teaching teens to drive is to model |
| starting on an old, dirt road and watching | | | | responsibility on your own. If you |
| the dust fly as your teen gets used to the | | | | demonstrate the type of driver that yells and |
| vehicle. | | | | curses out his or her window or puts on |
| | | | makeup while driving, you're probably going |
| Regardless of the location of the driving | | | | to wind up with a teen that will emulate the |
| adventure with your teen, it's important that | | | | same behaviour. Instead, emulate good driving |
| you practice patience and allow your new | | | | techniques at all times. Remember your |
| driver to gather a feel for the vehicle. A | | | | shoulder checks instead of your iPod and try |
| big part of driving is learning to feel the | | | | to keep both hands on the wheel. |