Learning to drive is one of the big rites of passage for young adults, and can open up a whole range of opportunities. If you have a teenage son or daughter who is currently starting driving lessons, then you probably want to do everything you can to help. Here are some useful tips on being as useful and supportive as possible to your child as they go for their driving license:
Help Them Study for the Theory Test
If you learned to drive when you were 17, this may well have been before the theory test was introduced, or when it was in its early stages and far less involved than it is now. This means you may not know what they will actually need to do to pass the test, so before helping them study, it is worth checking out this site that has mock driving theory tests. You can use it to find questions to quiz your teen on over dinner, and of course they can also use it as a resource to practice taking the real test. Practice is essential because it is a computer based test, so as well as knowing the highway code, they’ll also fare better if they are already familiar with the format and what the questions will be like.
Take Them to the Opticians
Before they even get close to the steering wheel, you need to make sure that your teen doesn’t need glasses. In everyday life, their eyes might be fine, but for driving, they need to be able to read a number plate from twenty metres away, which can be hard for some people. Contact lenses are also an option, as is laser eye surgery if your teen has finished growing. You can visit a LASIK vision center or somewhere like it for laser eye surgery – some people can’t wear contact lenses and glasses are easy to forget, so surgery may be the best alternative.
Don’t Practice In Your Car Too Early
It can be tempting, both for you and for them, to practice driving in your car with you as much as possible, right from the start. However, while those hours of practice are valuable, if you start too early things could get discouraging. Driving school cars, as you probably remember from learning to drive yourself, have that extra set of controls the teacher can use to take command of the vehicle if the learner does something dangerous. Your car doesn’t have this, so if you go out in it before your son or daughter is comfortable on the road it will be a terrifying experience for everyone involved! Additionally, your car will be different from the one they are learning in, and so while they’ll eventually need to be confident driving any car, it may be confusing driving it in the early stages.
Don’t Talk About Your Own Driving Test Too Much
Everyone remembers their own driving test, but unless you learned to drive late, your experience was probably very different from what they will have to do to get their license. Driving tests have gotten progressively more rigorous since theory tests were introduced in the late nineties, and so while you and all their aunts and uncles may have passed first time, their test will be harder, and talking about this is only going to make them feel under even more pressure.
It can also be a good idea to look at any bad driving habits you may have gotten into and correct them, because your son or daughter will probably be watching you closely when you drive at this time! By following this advice, you can help them pass their driving tests with minimal added stress.