Well this past weekend we had it planned that my son would drive for the first time to his cousin’s house. However we weren’t feeling very comfortable about the idea. They live about 20 minutes away and the only way he knows how to get there is by expressway, so we were feeling a bit apprehensive.
Well we happened to have dinner plans Friday night with friends of ours who have a son in college. We asked them how they handled their son driving and I thought they had a great plan.
They allowed their son to drive to work but they had a specific route mapped out that he was not to deviate from. They wanted him to get comfortable before he would begin to venture out. If he drove anywhere other than work, for the first couple of months they followed him. They said that they did it until they felt comfortable.
Well that sounded like a good plan. My husband and I thought we would actually have our son follow us to his cousin’s house so we could take him by way of the streets. Now of course he thought the whole thing was ridiculous and he wasn’t thrilled about the idea of us following him for a couple of months.
In the end, none of that happened because his plans with his cousin fell through. But we were still facing the issue of hearing once again from our son, “You treat me like I’m a baby.”
I tried to explain to him that if we treated him like a baby, he would have never been allowed to even get his license. So we do believe he is responsible enough and old enough to drive, however, he is not experienced enough.
Some parents might think we are crazy to follow him. But we think it’s a good plan. He did, however, get a chance yesterday to actually drive for the first time alone. Our daughter was at her friend’s house just a few blocks away and we let him go pick her up. But guess what my husband and I did? We took a walk along the path he would take so we could see him drive past.
I know, some of you might be thinking we need to let go…perhaps. But I found myself teary-eyed as he drove past us, thinking back to when he was just three years old and we bought him an electric jeep. I can still see him trying to steer that thing down the sidewalk. Now he’s behind his own set of wheels…my, where does the time go?
So how did you handle your teen’s first driving experience? Did you have any rules or guidelines?
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