Help with teaching a kid to drive.

C

Chris142

Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Messages
28,047
Location
Apple Valley, California
In the past I have had good luck teaching kids how to drive. The last one being my wifes little cousin that I had driving a manual @13.

Well we have a friend of hers. She is 19 and grew up in the foster system. None of these foster families ever took her to a go cart track or even taught her how to ride a bike.

To put it bluntly she can't get the driving concept. For the first time in my life I have ran out of patience. You would think after going around the same corner for hours that she would be capable to go around a corner and not run off into the weeds.

I have considered the local go cart track but Im afraid that the 8 yr olds will put her into the wall and I dont want her thinking that its ok to bump others on the road.

Help!
 
A proper written and in car driving course with a professional.

Auto Club Driving School | AAA Online & Behind-the-Wheel Teen Driver Training

AAA Driving School has online and behind-the-wheel training to help your teen get their driver's license and develop safe driving habits.
www.ace.aaa.com www.ace.aaa.com


While I did drive with both boys while they had their learners, both took 10 hours of driver training with teacher before taking their driving tests. I did teach them to drive the MT CX-5 after getting their license.
 
Got a tractor? Utility vehicle? This student needs a simpler vehicle. Constant speed, learn to steer… then worry about the changing speed once they’ve got steering down.

My sister, for example, was not good when she started.

Dad put her on the lawn tractor for a while - we lost a couple flowerbeds before she got the hang of it, but at 8 MPH, she wasn’t going to do any serious damage, though my mom’s flowers might disagree…
 
I started both of my daughters on lonely parking lots (try a local community college or a high school on the weekend). Just get them doing lazy circles & figure eights. That was good enough practice, they can also practice parking if you think they are up for it, or if they want to.

It sounds like she would benefit from basic driving like the above. I would then gradually increase the difficulty--after lonely parking lots, try quiet streets where other cars are unlikely (this is only after her permit arrives). Both have turned into pretty good drivers.

If you care to spring for it, AAA as mentioned above, has an excellent course. It is a bit more expensive than other offerings, but it is worth it. The 6 (or 10, if you pay a bit extra) hours they provide, have only the instructor and the student driver in teh car. Your young one is the only one who drives for the full hour in the car--other driving schools have 3 or 4 kids who rotate driving throughout the hour. I also put both daughters through AAA. The 10 hour session provides 2 hours on the freeway as well, so that is nice.

The practice in the parking lots that I mentioned above, was before they got their permits.
 
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I hear ya. I've been though it with 3 of my 4 kids at this point and have formed some PTSD for sure. People are less aware on the roads in general, as are our kids.

It was different for me as a kid. I was always interested in cars and my parents would let me "warm up" the cars (carburetor days) before we went places. I'd go up/down the driveway and learned manual transmissions this way as well.

All of my kids ultimately went with driving school training just before they got their license. It ain't cheap though. A bout $650 for a dozen or so sessions and they take you to your DMV driving test.
 
I think you have a bunch of desert around you or near, right? That would probably be the best place to start since she totally doesn’t get the concept yet.
I’m teaching my oldest daughter as well, but she’s already in the driving on the road stage, just needs to practice, practice, practice at this point.
 
She may need some time to get familiar with acceleration/deceleration feelings. If she's in Panick and stress out the brain is not in learning mode.
 
KrisZ said:
I think you have a bunch of desert around you or near, right? That would probably be the best place to start since she totally doesn’t get the concept yet.
I’m teaching my oldest daughter as well, but she’s already in the driving on the road stage, just needs to practice, practice, practice at this point.
Click to expand...
When I was 11 or so my dad drove me out into the desert a mile or so, let me run over some plants and figure out what size the car is and how to not run into stuff, and took me home. We did this once or twice more and then I got my own car and he didn't care if I scratched it so he would take or let me go driving every week or so and then I got my permit and was allowed onto pavement
 
KrisZ said:
I think you have a bunch of desert around you or near, right? That would probably be the best place to start since she totally doesn’t get the concept yet.
I’m teaching my oldest daughter as well, but she’s already in the driving on the road stage, just needs to practice, practice, practice at this point.
Click to expand...
yes and she keeps driving into juniper trees
 
Try an empty parking lot, there might be a lot more wide open space than a desert with lots of shrubs. Then again, she'd have to avoid concrete curbs & any lamp posts....

Chris142 said:
yes and she keeps driving into juniper trees
Click to expand...
 
tcp71 said:
A proper written and in car driving course with a professional.
Click to expand...

Fully agree with this notion. I gave all three of my kids some basic vehicle/handling orientation in a large empty parking lot, then sent them to a fully accredited driving school. Cost about $400.00 per kid, but well worth it in my opinion.

All three are careful and courteous drivers with no accidents or violations in the 5-10 years they've been driving.

I know the limits of my patience.
 
Chris142 said:
In the past I have had good luck teaching kids how to drive. The last one being my wifes little cousin that I had driving a manual @13.

Well we have a friend of hers. She is 19 and grew up in the foster system. None of these foster families ever took her to a go cart track or even taught her how to ride a bike.

To put it bluntly she can't get the driving concept. For the first time in my life I have ran out of patience. You would think after going around the same corner for hours that she would be capable to go around a corner and not run off into the weeds.

I have considered the local go cart track but Im afraid that the 8 yr olds will put her into the wall and I dont want her thinking that its ok to bump others on the road.

Help!
Click to expand...

Off road or big wide open parking lot with cones?
 
Oh boy. I'm making a general assumption based on your initial post...but perhaps her years in the foster system left a number of life lessons off the table. She may still have to learn how to learn.

Start small. An adult tricycle, bumper cars, a riding lawnmower just so she can learn how to turn a wheel and how something reacts.

Take her to a huge parking lot, put a big cone out there and have her turn left so its on her side. After a while put it on the other side and have her turn right. Use the smallest car you can find.

If all of this doesn't work...buy her a bus pass.
 
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