The time has finally come where your teenager has reached the age of wanting to learn how to drive. It’s a proud parenting moment for you, but at the same time, the thought of your baby getting behind the wheel is giving you major anxiety. All these thoughts pop in your head about texting and driving, fender benders, speeding tickets, and drunk driving and some other driving habits but calm down.
Yes your children are at risk for all those unthinkable acts, but so is everyone else that gets inside of a car. Those are normal concerns to have when putting your child behind the wheel, but safety and prevention is key.
One way to start is to get them in a safe car. Whether you have a car at home for them already, or you choose to buy them a car with standard safety features, them being a safe driver is your main focus, and safety is something you want to instill in them before they start driving. Check out these driving habits your teenager needs to know before they get behind the wheel.
Patience
Having patience while driving comes easier for some than it does for others. You see people speeding all the time, or having bouts of road rage, and it really makes you wonder where do they have to be that’s so important that they almost run someone off the road?
The reality is, you have more time than you do lives, and if people had that mentality when it comes to driving, there would be less accidents. This is a mindset you need to instill in your teenager, long before they get behind the wheel. Make sure they know that there’s nowhere they need to be that they would need to speed and put their life and other people’s lives at risk.
Being Aware of Your Surroundings
This is a life tip they need to know whether they’re behind the wheel, or just out and about in public. Your teenager needs to be aware of their surroundings, especially while driving. The interstate, parking lots, and busy streets in general, all have the potential for accidents, so teaching them to look both ways, as well as using their mirrors, is very important during their learning process. People, animals, and other vehicles are all things they need to be aware of when driving, regardless of where they are.
Avoid Distractions
This section might be the hardest thing for your teenager to avoid. Distractions come in the forms of music, cell phone, eating, and friends. Until they’re experienced drivers, the music can be turned off, the cell phones should be put up, they can eat when they get home, and their friends will just have to wait.
Distracted driving is just as bad as drunk driving in some states, and it is treated as such. A lot of times, teenagers don’t realize everything that goes into driving, and once they actually get behind the wheel, it’s a little scary for them.
All they know is that they want to drive. In their mind, they’ll hop in the car, test the car’s cool features, turn the music up really loud, go pick up their friends, and just hang out all day… but when they actually get behind the wheel, they look like Cher from Clueless when she first learned how to drive.
All in all, driving will be an experience unlike any other for your teenager, and it can be scary for you and them, but if you get some good driving habits instilled in them now, they’ll be able to confidently get behind that wheel, and apply everything you taught them.
