Drive can be a fun (and worrying) experience. We’ll cover the top safety tips you can follow to keep your teen and you both safe while driving, from adjusting their mirror properly to mapping out a set route before you start.
A teenager’s first drive is one of the most feared parental experiences, right up there with potty training and the first day at school. Even if you deny that your child is old enough for the pedals, let alone the license, you must realize the crucial role you play in their driving education.
The following tips will help you teach your teen driver safety.
Master the basics
Ensure that your lesson plan is relevant to your child’s skill level. This means teaching the basics in your first few lessons. To prepare for teen driving, they must become comfortable behind the wheel. Walkthrough the vehicle, checking the brake pedal, gas pedal, turn signals, dashboard controls, and parking brake. As well as adjusting the mirrors, it would be best to show them where their hand should be placed on the steering wheel. Make sure your teen can repeat everything back to you.
Map your route
If it’s your teen’s first driving lesson, make sure you know where you’ll be driving beforehand. The child is driving around unfamiliar terrain and experiencing everything for the first time, all while knowing one little mistake could have disastrous outcomes. Please provide them with structure and predictability.
Identify the skills you will work on
Before each lesson, plan where you’ll go and what skills our teen will practice. The turn might be left-handed or parallel parked. When planning our route, make sure to include many left-hand turns for your child; if it’s a skill you want him to master, plan the route so there will be plenty of them.
Minimize distractions
To stay focused on the road, you should eliminate unnecessary distractions when your teenager learns to drive. Music should not be played, and phones should be kept out of sight. Until your child is old enough to look for cars and obstacles themselves, you will serve as their second set of eyes.
Don’t raise your voice.
Occasionally, mistakes will occur. Even if you can’t stop them, you’re able to control your reactions to them. Speaking loudly or saying general statements like,” you don’t take this seriously,” will only upset your teen and won’t improve their driving skills.
Let your teen practice
The experience behind the wheel is the best way to drive; reading and watching videos won’t suffice. According to the CDC, teenagers should have supervised driving experience of at least 30 to 50 hours over six months. The possession of a driver’s license does not imply that your teen knows how to drive everything. The likelihood of teenage drivers crashing in simulated driving tests is still higher than that of adult drivers. Practicing with you will make them safer when they first begin driving on their own.
Young children can often encounter mistakes and difficult situations. It is the responsibility of parents to deal with them appropriately. If someone is weak in learning skills, you can use the pieces mentioned above of advice so they will not lose hope and heart in driving.
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