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