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Things To Teach Your Teen Child Before He Or She Begins Driving

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Do you have a teen child that is getting close to the age of driving? If so, this can be a bittersweet time for you as a parent, but there are ways you can increase the odds of your teen's success when he or she finally gets behind the wheel of a car. If you are worried about this event, you may want to take the time, money, and effort needed to make sure your child is ready to drive on his or her own. Here are three important areas to focus on to help prepare your teen for driving.

Teaching The Teen That Driving Is a Privilege

In the U.S., having a driver's license is considered a privilege, yet your teen may not really believe this unless you set up ways to help him or her learn and understand this important principle. A good way to do this is to start off with guidelines for your teen to follow. While the laws in this country could remove your teen's driving privileges, it will be better for your teen to learn this from you.

When you set up guidelines, stick with them. If your teen breaks them, you can take away his or her rights to drive, and you should. By doing this, your teen may learn quickly what a privilege driving really is, and this could prevent issues with your teen and the law in the future. Here are some examples of guidelines you could use:

  • He or she is not allowed to have friends in the car for the first few months of driving.
  • He or she must maintain a certain standard of grades in school.
  • The teen must pay for gas and/or insurance on the vehicle.
  • He or she cannot text or talk on the phone while driving.
  • The teen must wear a seatbelt at all times.
  • He or she must be home by a certain time at night.
  • The teen can only drive to and from school or work for the first few months of driving.

These are just some examples of rules you could set up before the teen gets his or her license. If your teen knows these rules and realizes the consequences, you may be able to feel more comfortable with him or her driving.

Vehicle Maintenance and Care

You may also want to spend some time teaching your teen about the legalities of driving as well as issues relating to maintenance and care of a vehicle. A good place to start is teaching the teen about the vehicle title and registration. You could also teach the teen things about license plates and insurance. These are not things kids learn in school, but they are important for all drivers to know. Teaching your child about the consequences of breaking driving laws might also be a good thing to talk about.

In addition, you could teach the teen about oil changes and why they are so important. You could also show the teen how to make minor repairs or maintenance on the car, such as:

  • Changing a tire
  • Checking and filling the oil
  • Filling the window washer fluid
  • Checking the air pressure on a tire and learning to fill a tire up if it is low
  • Jumping a dead battery
  • Checking and replacing headlights, brake lights, and turn signals

These are all great things for a teen driver to know and feel comfortable doing, because you never know when a problem will occur.

Finally, you should spend the money needed to send your child to driving lessons. Driving school will teach your teen everything he or she needs to know about driving laws, traffic signs, defensive driving skills, and safety while driving. If you would like to feel better about your teen getting behind the wheel, look into driving lessons today.


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