" Drivers Education, In the Beginning "

My daughter Katie will be 15 years old this December. As with most teens in this age group their thoughts are overcome with driving.

Driving , driving , driving. It's all that I have heard for the past year. And while she has not yet received her drivers permit , my husband and I feel strongly about her having plenty of experience behind the wheel before we let her loose on the streets.
Your Welcome !

In the beginning Jake and I had a plan. I would teach our son to drive then he would teach our older daughter to drive and then it would be my turn again with Katie. My husband is only home about four days a month so most of her experience would have to be with mom.

My son was pretty easy to teach. I think that the male teen population have one up on the girls . I do believe that teen girls have their heads in the clouds so to speak.
The only incident that I had with my son was when he ignored the stop sign in the mall parking lot where we almost hit another moving vehicle and I thought I was going to die. Other then that he did good !

When my husband was instructing our older daughter, he told me of the first moment that he had ever heard her cuss. He was telling her which way to go on a road , when she noticed that he was having her drive on the entrance ramp to the highway , she yelled " You bastard " ! It was to late by then. She had to learn how to merge .

My daughter-in-law being the sweet and brave person that she is, decided to let Katie drive her Trailblazer down a country road two weeks ago. And while I was told that she only had to grab the wheel once or twice , I was still VERY apprehensive about letting her drive my much beloved little Ford Focus station wagon. A car that I had wanted very badly and finally got.

That's what started the DAILY " When are you going to take me driving ?" question.
I knew that it was coming. And I knew that it would be soon. So last Sunday after church let out , I decided to see if she could handle the prized little wagon.

There are a lot of country roads that surround the church so when I got to the parking lot exit, I put my wagon in park and got out of the car . Oh my Katie was so excited. Oh her mother was so nervous. Not a good combination.

After she got buckled in, adjusted the seat and mirrors , asked if she should put her foot on the brake before putting the car in drive , off we went . Almost into the ditch ! After I realized that it would be a better idea for us to start out in an empty parking lot so that she could get a better feel for the car, I quickly said " That's it your done.".

After that close call , we both agreed that it would be better to wait for an empty parking lot day. So today since I had a little bit of work to do in the office at church , my husband , being the sweet, sweet man that he is , agreed to give our girl a little practice behind the wheel. Better him than me I say !

And here they are, heading towards my prized little wagon ! I know that you can't tell by the photo , but Katie is walking rather swiftly !

Entering the car where all of the necessary
adjustments will be made before take off!

An excited Katie making her adjustments.
A very cool husband !

Well she backed out pretty good !
Now the maneuvers start.

They practiced for thirty minutes.
She's doing good .
I am still glad that Jake is with her, he is a great instructor.
Me , not so much !

Lesson over . Car in one piece . Happy teen . Good father .
Relaxed mother .
A good combination .