Teaching our son to drive.
- Thread starter Radio Zero
- Start date
You're probably not yelling at him enough. Really tear into his ass for the small things and the rest will take care of itself.
Nah! I taught both my kid s to drive on a church parking lot, Get them used to the gas pedal, brakes and how to judge the turning of the car around light poles and how to drive between the parking lot lines. Take them on the street after they feel comfortable in the parking lot.
As my daughter drove away in her car for the first time, I recalled how we wouldn't let her ride her bike because she didn't look both ways before leaving the driveway. We were turning her loose in a car. It worked out fine.
At my kids school, "drivers ed" was only like 6 actual driving classes behind the wheel and then they had to do like 60 hours with parents. Totally transferred the "teaching" responsibility to parents and I had to go ride with him and his instructor on his last day. He'd been bragging what a good driver he was compared to the other kid... and when I rode the instructor took him out on the inner belt here in Charlotte at like 6:30pm. He was going up a hill at a steady 40 while everyone else was doing 70+. I really wished I'd taken a gummy beforehand!
Any way, to you and all parents with kids who will be driving in the next few years: do yourself a favor and find a BRAKES driving class near you. Started by a champion drag racer who's son killed himself and his younger brother hot rodding. The Dad started BRAKES (Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe) in their memory to make it a positive. They take the most common errors young drivers make and teach them how to handle. It's a 1 day class and a parent has to attend. The kids learn a ton and so will you, if you go. Can't recommend it highly enough. To me should be required for every young driver. EVen if you have to make a weekend trip somewhere to attend: do it.
I didn’t realize how close the mailboxes were to the road until driving the 15 miles from the DMV to our house when my daughter get her learner’s. Absolutely terrifying
VanPastorMan
Hall of Famer
Bob Knight School of Driving!
Yes! That’s the kind of thing I was getting at.
We live in … I don’t know what you’d call it … a very small city or really big town. The streets are a grid, there’s alleys, and since everyone’s garage looks like it was built to house a single Model T, a lot of cars parked out front.
When he’s behind the wheel, the sensation (at the moment) is similar to driving through the Loop. Can’t say I particularly care for either. My nerves were already a wreck before this all started.
Take a deep breath, you'll be fine.
Radio Zero edit: You're going to die. He will be fine, but you are toast.
VanPastorMan
Hall of Famer
When teaching my oldest daughter to drive she was going through a tunnel underneath a train and was too close to the right side so I told her to move over to the left. I told her again. I told her again. Whap! The rearview mirror on the passenger side was knocked right off. I asked her why she didn't listen to me the 3 times I told her to move over. She had no answer.
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Just back from another jaunt. I drove us out of town and stopped on the side of a backroad (undoubtedly, and memorably, named, in good Indiana fashion, something like W 1500 S), and, switching places, I let him open it up. 40, 50, 55, the roar of the 102 horses of (what’s soon to be) the boy’s 2006 Scion xB exhilarated, the fruitful and mute beauty of the planted fields surrounding well-kept farmhouses with early summer night lights twinkling on as we raced on.
EDIT. Rhapsodizing my ass off.
EDIT. Rhapsodizing my ass off.
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^^^This^^^. I taught both my sons to drive in a church parking lot. Only the vehicle was a stick-shift truck. Graduation was getting up a hill (with that pesky clutch) that had a stop sign on it.
I live in the country.
Teaching my oldest, she took a corner at about 25. If there would have been a house 30 feet from the street, we would have been in the living room.
The wife took over teaching. Maybe that's why she is on her 4th car.
Teaching my oldest, she took a corner at about 25. If there would have been a house 30 feet from the street, we would have been in the living room.
The wife took over teaching. Maybe that's why she is on her 4th car.
I taught my three kids how to drive and the only mishap we ever had was with my younger daughter. She was driving and a squirrel ran out in the street. She swerved to miss the damn squirrel and took out a mailbox. Did minimal damage to the car but had to replace the mailbox.
She thought she still did the right thing, but I kept saying brake, don't swerve, brake, don't swerve...
Yeah . . . our son had his drivers permit and was driving to see his girlfriend with his mother in her car. He was passing his turn and mom said "don't you want to turn here" and he did . . . at whatever speed he was going at the time. Cost me a replacement axle and wheel. But he didn't hit a house . . . .
S#!+ happens . . . more often than we'd like or plan for.
I've taught 3 new drivers to grow used to being behind the wheel and the best place to teach other than a wide open, empty parking lot is a cemetery. One lane road limits the speed, turns to navigate and the occasional quiet aside wondering how many new teen age drivers are at rest here seems to get some attention.
According to feedback years later, my only advice that had the most influence was the question, why accelerate to a stop light (sign)?
Don't confuse this with a success story.
According to feedback years later, my only advice that had the most influence was the question, why accelerate to a stop light (sign)?
Don't confuse this with a success story.
When my daugher was learning to drive, we were out by Lake Monroe and had the same issues i.e. mailboxes whizzing by a couple inches from me (it seemed). At one point I asked how far from the edge of the road did she think we were. She said a couple feet. I had her stop and get out to look. Only half the tire was on pavement.
It was a valuable lesson to her that:
A) I'm not a complete moron
B) what you think is the corner of your car may not exactly be the corner of your car. There's a lot more room between you and oncoming traffic than you think.
It must have worked because she spent 2 years as a courier for a title company putting 400 miles a month on her car in B-Town and never had an accident.
It was a valuable lesson to her that:
A) I'm not a complete moron
B) what you think is the corner of your car may not exactly be the corner of your car. There's a lot more room between you and oncoming traffic than you think.
It must have worked because she spent 2 years as a courier for a title company putting 400 miles a month on her car in B-Town and never had an accident.
I always pictured you as childless, bereft of all love and void of human feeling.
Both my boys had to have xx hours behind the wheel with a parent before they could take driving school. I had them drive from our house north of Cincinnati to Bloomington for football games.
At the time I had a Crew Cab Chevy 2500 diesel.😲
It's great to hear that your daughter had a valuable learning experience while driving near Lake Monroe. The incident taught her two important lessons: A) Respect for your judgment: When you asked your daughter how far from the edge of the road she thought you were, and she realized her estimation was incorrect, it likely helped her understand that you have valuable insights and should be trusted when it comes to driving advice. B) Spatial awareness: The incident also taught your daughter the importance of understanding the dimensions of her vehicle. By getting out of the car and seeing that only half the tire was on the pavement despite her belief that she had a couple of feet of space, she learned that what she perceives as the corner of the car may not be its exact boundary. This lesson helped her develop better spatial awareness, enabling her to gauge distances and clearances more accurately. The lessons she learned from this experience seem to have had a positive impact on her driving skills. Her subsequent two years of accident-free driving, even with a substantial mileage as a courier, indicate that she internalized those lessons and applied them effectively in her daily driving activities.
I reserve that just for opposing fans and a select few of you guys. Texting with little English “lernin’” makes me seem colder than I am. Now stfu funny man.
When my 3 kids were young, we owned about 8 acres and I kept an old Toyota Tacoma pickup around. I would have the kids help me do work around the land and their payoff was they got to drive the truck around while we worked. Probably started them driving it when my twins were 7 and the youngest 5. Not sure that it was safe, but they loved it and all turned out to be good drivers (for the most part!).
One thing I did learn as they got close to driving time was to stay calm. My wife was really struggling with them driving and was very high strung. When I would drive with them, I always (tried) to stay calm and mellow with them. They've all told me how much they appreciated that and it made things easier for them.
Funny story, the day my daughter was going to take her driving test she wanted to go and practice parallel parking that morning. We're driving around the side streets finding spots for her to practice. After the 3rd or 4th time, she was doing great and I started to look at my phone and chill. She starts to try another spot and I just happen to look up and realize she's practicing next to a new Rolls Royce! Needless to say, I made her stop and pull up next to the Honda up the road.
One thing I did learn as they got close to driving time was to stay calm. My wife was really struggling with them driving and was very high strung. When I would drive with them, I always (tried) to stay calm and mellow with them. They've all told me how much they appreciated that and it made things easier for them.
Funny story, the day my daughter was going to take her driving test she wanted to go and practice parallel parking that morning. We're driving around the side streets finding spots for her to practice. After the 3rd or 4th time, she was doing great and I started to look at my phone and chill. She starts to try another spot and I just happen to look up and realize she's practicing next to a new Rolls Royce! Needless to say, I made her stop and pull up next to the Honda up the road.
Started driving when I was 7. Oldest of the kids and lived on a farm. I would drive the truck with fertilizer and seed. Slide off the seat, engage the the clutch, put it in low, let off the clutch and get back on the seat so I could see where I was going until I needed to slide down again to hit the clutch and brake. Probably never got over 5mph, but I would drive in the field and follow the tractor and planter on the road when we moved to the next field. My dad would have been put jail in today's world. I enjoyed the hell out of it though.
My son learned a lot differently LOL
I did a lot of the same, but I was closer to 10 and it was on an old John Deere with a long ass lever hand clutch. When we got a bigger Farmall with a pedal clutch, I had to do the seat slide thing and pull on the steering wheel to get the necessary leverage to depress the clutch.
After reading all the poster’s responses it brought back a lot of memories, good and bad. I taught my three kids to drive but I was kinda fortunate I had my own brake. I taught Driver Ed for 27 years and always made sure I had them in my class. Every student had to do maneuvers in the school parking lot before they could ever get out on the road. One thing I will recommend is to teach your kid how to drive in reverse. Put them in a big lot and have them do figure 8s in reverse. If they can do that you will be amazed how quickly they pick up other aspects of driving. I had a lot of parents that dumped their kid off and said good luck. Others put in a lot of time with their kid. One of the best things that states did was require parents to put in X number of hours before their kid gets his/her license even though many lie about it.
I taught two in the winter time in Indy and made sure we found some ice/snow in bigger lots to practice on. Made them put it in a skid and how to get out of one.
It was fun.
It was fun.
Same. We had a little John Deere 420 and the seat would go down low. Some days my Dad would get up early and bale hay onto the ground, if there wasn't a heavy dew. Then we'd have to take a tractor and wagon to pick it up. I was the youngest, so putting the 6-7 year old me on the tractor pulling a wagon in granny or 2nd gear and following close to the row of bales (maybe between two rows if possible) allowed my Dad and brothers to pick and stack them. The turns at the end of the field took some practice, along with not hitting any groundhog holes to mess up the stack.
We also had a 50s Willys jeep that I drove on the farm. You know, the era with not just the dimmer switch but starter button on the floor, too, plus the 4WD engage.
Yup, except we had an International "B". Small, seat offset to the right, only 1 wheel in front. Easy to drive, great for a little kid. I might have been too little...first accident was running into a big, freakin' haystack. Very slow, hit it dead center. Tractor died, I didn't.
Yeah, that was me at 5. Hay field or "picking rocks". Dad would put in low and jump off, leaving me to keep it pointed in the right direction. he'd jump back on and turn it for me.
When I was 9 or 10, I'd help a neighbor bale hay. Had an IH Super C with a hand clutch. I didn't have enough poop in my pants to just pull it back, so I press my chest (and face) against the steering wheel and pull that clutch like my life depended on it.
My dad still talks about the time I was 11 and didn't pay attention when making a turn while discing. I got into the fence and pulled it behind me for about 100yds. He laughs about it now, but not so much at the time. LOL
Man, when I rode with my son and his instructor, I decided DE instructors must have one of the highest incidences of substance abuse of any occupation. I don't remember it being so stressful for our DE instructors, but I'm sure it was (of course it was during the school day, so roads weren't nearly as congested and busy then). I'd have to get drunk/high to put up with what I encountered, and that was the "finals" drive, not one of the first ones!
So true! When I met my kids DE instructor I told my wife, that dude's either stoned to bejesus or the calmest man I've ever met. He was hilarious.
Back in the day when I was in DE, we had a few adventures. There were 3 of us taking DE at the same time and we would split time riding and driving. One guy in our group was a horrible driver and it was classically funny riding with him. First day first time driving, he proceeds to get behind the wheel, makes all of the adjustments to the mirrors & seat, turns around to back out of the spot and proceeds to gun it. Engine must have revved to 5K RPMs and we just sat still, he kept revving the engine higher and higher and we never moved....he forgot to put it into gear! Same guy had a tendency to lock up the brakes anytime a light went yellow. Finally the instructor told him to just drive through the next yellow light instead of locking up the brakes. Couldn't have been five minutes later we're driving down a busy street, light turns yellow and he proceeds to gun it. We must have been 500 feet short of the light so as we're speeding through the now red light, cars are locking up their brakes coming from the opposite direction to keep from t-boning us. I was crying laughing in the back seat. Same guy on the last day of driving was finally trying to parallel park in downtown. He was really struggling. Instructor tells him he's not backing up far enough. So the next attempt he backed up further and slams into the car behind us. The instructor never moved, she said to me to get out and see if there was any damage, I do and let her know that yep, we've dented the bumper of the car behind us. She still never moves her head (just starred straight ahead from the passenger seat) and says "get back into the car", tells the guy driving to "drive!". We just pulled away and that was that. I sat in the back seat trying not to laugh out loud.
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