Our blog section is generally all about letting youngsters know how to go about learning to drive. What the best tools there are out there to help you pass your test first time, how you can be a good driver from the minute you pass and a whole heap of other hints and tips.
However, it recently occurred to us that we have neglected how parents feel in all of this! After all, you’ve been through thick and thin with your children, and it doesn’t stop just because they’re about to move into a new phase of their lives – adulthood!
Watching your “baby” take to the roads can be a particularly worrying time for any parent. How will they cope being on their own? Will they learn how to handle a car, and deal with the road and all the dangers it can pose? Are they likely to give in to pressure and make a stupid mistake when they have friends in their car?
These are all questions that will go through a parent’s mind but at the end of the day, you have to let them grow up. Many of you reading this may think that you are letting your child grow up. After all, you just want to help (or are you)!
Teaching Your Child to Drive
You might think you’re the best person for the job. After all, you have been driving for many years without so much as a speeding ticket to your name! You may also think that you know all the “tricks of the trade”. But, and there is one big BUT coming!
No matter how well you drive or how safe you are, you have to accept that you’re not trained in the art of teaching someone to drive. Professional instructors are highly trained and spend many years perfecting this (they hold a special licence for a reason).
Add to this the fact that the relationship between parent and child can become pretty strained when you’re out in the car together, and it could end up in disaster.
Leave it to the Professionals
Of course, its understandable that you will want to make sure your “precious bundle” is well looked after when they go for driving lessons, and this is one very constructive way in which you can help. Use your life experience to make sure the instructor who will finally be chosen to teach your child to drive will be able to do so safely, professionally and successfully.
You might not believe it right now, but if you choose wisely you’re giving your child the best start when they first embark upon their driving career. Plus, it won’t mean shouting matches in your own car because of yet another near miss with the kerb or lamp post (that’s what the professionals are there to help avoid)!
Overall, whilst it can be hard to accept that your teenager is moving on to another phase in their life that feels like they’re been taken even further away from you, they will thank you for making sure the stress they’re feeling is kept well under control. And, pretty much the only way to do that is to let them learn with a certified instructor.
