I can still vividly remember my dad teaching me to drive in our neighborhood after he got home from work. I’m sure you can easily recount your own driving experiences, too, good or bad, with whoever taught you. For these reasons, I hope the exercises and information I provide can help you get in the right state of mind.
This is the second post of my series about how to become a calmer, more patient and empathetic driving mentor. These best-practices are the same tools the best driving instructors in the world have in their toolbox and are the difference between good and great mentorship.
Get a View from the Passenger's Seat
If you spend most of your time in the driver’s seat, then I suggest you take a few rides in the passenger’s side before experiencing it for the first time with your teenager. Trust me, it will help you get a better feel for how the road looks from the passenger’s point of view. Curbs, mailboxes and parked cars will all seem uncomfortably close, and if you haven’t been in the passenger seat for a while, you will swear that your teen is going hit them all!
Another benefit from doing this is that you will be a better judge of whether or not the vehicle is centered in its lane, which can be tricky to know if you rarely sit in the passenger’s seat.
So, go ahead and spend some time riding shotgun. That way you’ll have a better feel for how the road looks from that position and you’ll have one less surprise when you hit the road with your teen. The fewer surprises, the better! T
he calmer, more patient and empathic you can be, the more enjoyable and productive your time with your teen will be.
Good luck and let the great memories begin!
Thanks for being part of the Teaching Driving posse.
Drew