I’m teaching my youngest son James to drive and must admit it is not nearly as painful an experience as first time round. When David first put his L plates on my car, we could barely speak to each other when we returned home; he was furious with me for yanking up the handbrake saying I had over-reacted, and I felt a bag of nerv
es at his casual approach when reaching a junction.
We thankfully overcame those difficulties, and it was a huge learning curve for me because I had to learn to place my implicit trust in David and this paid off as he passed his test first time. I still feel uncomfortable about the loud music he plays when revving up the engine. Is it really necessary? Or is it just a boy thing? I do have big concerns about boy racers as I have seen the terrible consequences of tragic accidents through my work with Headway Cambridgeshire. I haven’t yanked the handbrake up once with James – yet!
James has pleasantly surprised me. I’m not sure if I am a calmer mum-driver second time round, or whether James is a competent driver, but after a few bumpy stops and starts, he is really doing well. I did, however, show my distinct disapproval when I discovered an iPod speaker plugged into his ear while he was driving yesterday and I gave him short shrift about this; he couldn’t see what the fuss was about.
James is learning to drive in the same car as this learner driver who flipped it during her second lesson. She was driving with BSM – his is a Fiat 500 – and he hopes his friends won’t see him in it, he doesn’t consider it very cool!
As long as he keeps those four wheels firmly on the road, I will be a happy mum …..
I would findit very difficult teaching a child of mine to drive – could foresee terrible explosions onmy part! My dad taught me to play tennis and it was very stressful!!!
So basically as long as the car stays the right way up you’ll be happy…
I once took driving lessons in the dim, distant past, but there was a cooling in the relationship between me and the instructor when I managed to mount the pavement at 50; I was so lucky the street was empty!
You must have taught David very well for him to pass first time 🙂
Good luck with James too 🙂
What?! The Fiat 500 is hugely cool.
Hi Pip, a friend of mine has a high-spec Fiat 500, but I don’t think they are so cool for boys.
What did you think of The Debate?
Good new that james is now learning to drive, matthew was itching to start lessons a while ago but personally i have not encouraged him because of the cost 🙁
Sally, the cost is prohibitive. James was given some birthday money to pay for some lessons. The insurance is hugely expensive and has increased considerably since I taught David. I hope Matthew starts soon, the longer he leaves it, the more expensive it will become.