How to Help a Teen Practice Driving

When your teen is ready to start driving, it can be the best and worst time of your life. As parents, we're thrilled at the thought of retiring our car pool service, but at the same time dread the thought of our children exposing themselves to the dangers of the highway. Learning to drive safely takes practice and patience. The key to success is staying calm because if you're calm, your teen driver will be calm.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Visit your state's Department of Motor Vehicles office or website to get current information about driving regulations and safe driving practices. The more up to date information you have, the better instructor you'll be.

2. Take your teen to a large empty parking lot and let them take the wheel. Pretend cars are parked in the designated parking spots and have them drive up and down the lanes to practice their driving skills and get the feel of the automobile.

3. Practice driving on the open road by starting out in the country. Go for a Sunday drive and find some county roads that don't have a lot of traffic and let your teen take over.

4. Drive through suburban neighborhoods where your teen can practice stopping, parking and reading road signs.

5. Ask your teen to observe a situation and tell you what other drivers are doing wrong. If you see someone run a red light, roll through a stop sign or drive too fast in a school zone, you should test your child to see if they know what laws were broken. You can do this while driving or even if you're at home watching TV.

Tips & Warnings

• Set an example by practicing safe driving yourself. Letting your teen driver see you wear your seat belt, obey driving laws and show courtesy to other drivers will make them much more likely to exhibit the same behavior.
• Don't allow other teenagers in the car with you while your child is driving. It will at best make them nervous and at worst it will distract them.