Tips and tricks on teaching your teen to drive.
Raising a teen? Here's some advice on teaching your teen to drive from the book "How to Survive Your Teenager" (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $13.95), straight from people who've done it:
“From the day my kids turn 15 to the moment they get their driving permits, I take them to the graveyard to practice driving every day. It’s important to get as much behind-the-wheel experience as possible before going out on real roads, and the graveyard is an excellent place to practice; it has streets, stop signs and very little traffic. Plus, I always joke they can’t kill anybody, since everybody is already dead!”
— Cheri Hurd, Littleton, Co.: mother of two daughters 26 and 21 and two sons, 23 and 14
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“The good thing about the kids driving stick-shift cars is that they have to pay attention to driving, so they’re less apt to yak on the phone.”
— William Smith, San Francisco, Calif.; father of two daughters, 23 and 21, and one son, 16
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“Drive with your teenager for the first 5,000 miles before they get their license. Someone told my husband that teenagers have more accidents in this period than at any other time. Clinging to our lives, my husband and I did this with both of our daughters. We drove on highways, dark alleys, and back roads so they would be prepared for any kind of situation.”
—S.F., San Antonio, Texas; parent of two daughters, 20 and 16
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“I tried my best to teach my son everything I could about his car, which is a 1997 Ford Ranger stick. I went over maintenance and other mechanical things in great detail until I was confident he knew how to operate that vehicle inside and out. Unfortunately, I didn’t do as good a job as I’d thought: The first night my son had his license, a policeman pulled him over as he was getting on the highway. Startled, my son looked up at the officer and squeaked, ‘I wasn’t speeding, was I?’ The officer shook his head and smiled, then reached in and clicked his headlights on. In my haste to educate my son about cars, I forgot to mention the simplest thing of all!”
— Mark Scott, Safford, Ariz.; father of two sons, 16 and 13
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“Send them to a driving school, then take a Xanax and get in the car.”
— Anonymous, Chicago Ill.; parent of three daughters, 24, 20 and 15, and two sons, 19 and 17
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Hundreds of Heads Books’ survival guides offer the wisdom of the masses by assembling the experiences and advice of hundreds of people who have gone through life’s biggest challenges and have insight to share.
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© 2008, Hundreds of Heads Books, Inc.