...but kills. Teach your teenager the importance of driving carefully and responsibly, from a young age itself.
Does your teenager drive? Now days, more and more parents are giving cars to their children at a younger and younger age. It doesn't matter if their child is
not yet eighteen. As any person with money knows, a license can be
bought with ease - even if you are a year or two shy of the legal
limit.
What is surprising though is that often parents don't mind sidestepping the law and letting their children take up driving earlier.
Parents often feel that if their child is perfectly able and capable of driving at sixteen, why should he wait until eighteen before getting a license?
Abide by the law
By cheating the system, you give your child the subtle message that he is above the law,
and that it is okay to circumvent the law, if you can get away. Also,
if you would like your child to uphold principles of honesty and
integrity, you are not setting a good example.
Discourage recklessness
Teenagers, by their very nature and due to lack of
experience, tend to be reckless in nature. This sense of recklessness
gets magnified when they are with friends. It is easy for them to get
carried away when driving, as driving
is a new, exciting experience for them. So, it is not uncommon to see
that the rashest and fastest driver on the road is a teenager or
someone just out of his teens. This is because the very act of driving a car is a source of great excitement for him - as is understandable, since it is a new experience for him. Driving
is the first step towards achieving independence, which is why it can
give such a rush to a person. And youngsters often get a great rush
from driving fast.
Teenagers often think they are indestructible, because experience
hasn't taught them otherwise. Yes, experience is a great teacher and
its lessons can range from mild ones, a dent, to harsh ones, a death.
Accompany him
Once your child is
old enough to drive, go with him a number of times before you let him
take the car on his own. Make sure he is a confident driver. Confidence
doesn't mean speed. In fact, nervous drivers speed more, perhaps in an
attempt to make up for their lack of nerves, or because they don't have
the best judgement.
Give him practice
Is your child a stable driver? Does he keep enough
distance between cars, or does he brake just before banging into the
vehicle in front. Most importantly, are you comfortable when sitting
with him in the car? Many parents, and their children, think that it is perfectly normal for them to be nervous when their child is at the wheel. This is far from the truth. If you are not at ease when your child isdriving,
if you feel he brakes too much, too late, drives too close to other
cars, chances are, you are not imagining it. But instead of yelling at
him and stressing him out, causing him to make more mistakes and think
you are impossible to please, keep your temper and give your child more
practice.
