Teaching Your Kids to Drive
Yesterday my wife, 2 sons and our new dog (named Gordon, more on that later) were enjoying a day at the park near my home here in Sunny Southern California for Memorial Day. To my delight, it wasn't very busy.
There was a father/daughter team driving around in circles in the parking lot. At first glance you'd think they were just looking around. But after the second pass at very slow speed, it was obvious that the father was teaching his daughter how to drive.
As they passed by the 3rd time, I looked at them, looked at my sons playing, then smiled knowing some day I'd be teaching my kids to drive.
It didn't take long before I realized that my kids would probably be able to drive much much sooner than I would ever be able to legally put them behind the wheel on a public street or in a parking lot. As you probably know if you've been here before, Cz (my oldest son) is 4-1/2. You might also know how well he does on quads and motorcycles and bicycles for his age.
What you probably don't know is that I live on a private road, and I often let Cz steer the car the last few hundred feet to the house. (He can also steer my sand rail) Then I talk him through backing the car into the driveway. I have a small "intersection" in my driveway where I park, so there's actually a 2 point turn around involved in parking there, because when finished the car is facing the opposite direction than the road brings you in.
All that being said, I don't think I'll experience the joy(?) of teaching my teenager to drive. Judging from the look on that dad's face, that might not be a bad thing…