Search Results for: blog teaching your teen to drive getting started

Teen Driving Disaster

My 67-year-old grandmother taught me how to drive. True story. The woman had the patience of a saint. My parents didn’t step foot in a car that I was navigating until I was fully licensed. They didn’t teach any of my brothers how to drive either. We were all sent to Driver’s Ed, and logged our permit hours with our teacher or other family members in various public parking lots and on empty rural roads. Needless to say, my mom won’t be teaching my daughter how to drive when that dreadful day comes. Rather, the job will likely fall to … Continue reading →

Driving to the Brink

Despite her growing pains, I try to embrace every second of my soon-to-be seven-year-old’s daily existence, for soon she will no longer be my little girl genius regularly sharing such shards of wisdom like: “Mommy, you know why Velcro shoes are so great? Because you can hear when they untie.” Soon she will be a big girl genius in her own mind, actively bucking any parental guidance I subconsciously (or blatantly) try to influence her with. Soon she’ll be a teenage, not unlike my friend’s son, who decided to flex his growing independence this past weekend by getting on a … Continue reading →

Parents To Blame For Kids’ Bad Driving

Is your kid a crazy driver? Is he to blame for sending your car insurance premium through the roof? Before you hold a grudge and withhold the car keys, you may want to take a good look in the mirror. According to a new study, your child’s maniacal driving habits could actually be your fault. Sure… blame the mother. The recently published study claims that bad driving may be genetic. According to researchers, there may be a particular gene that contributes to poor driving. Interestingly, if the research results hold up, it would mean that 30 percent of American drivers … Continue reading →

Teens Should Not Have Their Own Car

According to a new studies by State Farm Insurance and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Teens have less car accidents if they share a car with a parent or siblings. As a parent who wants to reward a child for being such a good child by rewarding him with a car when he gets his license, this study has caught me off guard. Could giving my son a well deserved gift be the thing that would most risk his life? …Or, could he be the exception to this rule? The rule basically says that if a child has free access … Continue reading →

Teens and Prescription Drugs

(cc) image by psyberartist/flickr Probably the worst side effect of kids being prescribed Ritalin and similar drugs in excess is that these kids eventually become teenagers who still take these drugs and also share them with each other. The survey, of 592 12- to 17-year-olds from across the U.S., found that 20 percent admitted to having lent a prescription drug to a friend, while a similar percentage said they had done the borrowing. The most commonly shared prescriptions were allergy drugs and narcotic pain relievers like Oxycontin and Darvocet, followed by antibiotics, acne medications like Accutane, and mood drugs such … Continue reading →

Stupid Teen Stunt: Car surfing

What happens when a person is ejected from a moving car? Anyone? They get injured and maybe even die? So why would a teen stand on a car or sit on the back hood of a moving car? My guess is they have a death wish. Car surfing, the act of riding a car by standing or sitting on the top of the car instead of inside has got to be one of the most dangerous stupid stunts that a teen can do. Car surfing became popular among reckless teens in the late 1980’s when the movie Teen Wolfe portrayed … Continue reading →

Teaching your teen to drive: Getting Started

Well, it’s happened. My son just officially turned 15 (I think I started saying he was 15 a month or so ago), and wants to learn to drive. He has been studying for the permit exam diligently,and I have contacted the local homeschool office for “school attendance” paperwork required in the state of Georgia for teen drivers. I have no doubt he will pass the written test, as he’s never failed a test in his life. After that, he’s going to want to drive. Can you smell fear? I love my son and trust my son, but I am literally … Continue reading →