As parents, we have to learn to grow and accept our child’s independence. Of course, naturally, curious children will be more interested in diving out into the world as early as they can. It’s our job as parents to mediate that well, never wrapping them in cotton wool, but also never diluting their adventurous spirit.
As your child grows over time, this is a question you’ll return to repeatedly. For example, when they head out on their first cinema trip with a friend unaccompanied, when they go on their first date with someone their age, and of course, when they learn to drive.
This last one is a more visceral consideration to accept. The idea of your baby operating a heavy piece of metal on a road with other drivers can be hard to accept, even if your own parent once had this feeling and you were completely fine.
Are there methods you can take to ensure their safety and good practice once they’ve qualified and passed their test? We believe there is. Let’s consider what that might look like:
Reinforce Safe Driving Habits
Ultimately, the best you can do here is to reinforce safe driving habits through example. This doesn’t mean questioning their judgment, or being overbearing, but it can mean recommending small tips of advice. For example, if they’ve been asked to serve as the designated driver for their friends going out at night, you can always remind them to decline lifts for people they don’t know, or in areas they’re uncomfortable driving in.
That might also mean setting ground rules in the car, such as setting boundaries against anyone who won’t give fuel money for a lift. Little measures like this really do matter, and they help your child build self-respect behind the wheel.
Make Sure They Have A Safety Kit
It’s good to ensure they have safety kit in their car. This can include a safety triangle and high-visibility vest in case they break down, blankets if they break down in winter, a tool to smash glass in case they’re in an accident and this is their only means of escape (usually held in the glove box), a torch with spare batteries, even some non-perishable food if required, or an old phone that can be switched off and used in case no signal or batteries are found in the former. Of course, including a first aid kit can be helpful.
For the most part, it’s unlikely your child will ever need to use these items, although people do break down every day, and unfortunately, no one is invulnerable from having an accident. For this reason, it’s good to make sure they have the tools needed to get through that. As a parent, knowing those provisions have been planned out can help your peace of mind.
Encourage Pass Plus & Comparable Courses
Additional driving courses like “Pass Plus” or the equivalent in your country can be undertaken if you pass your driving test. For the most part, this will allow you to drive on roads that you might not cover in your driving test, and also include instructions for navigating the motorway/highway.
Not only does this provide valuable driving experience in areas you might not usually have access to, but it can also lower your insurance premiums thanks to the advanced tuition you’ve had. Moreover, the instructions will be had under the watchful eye of a guide, which allows your child to relax and feel guided in those high-pressure situations.
As a parent, you can offer to pay for the course of go 50/50 to help them feel motivated to try it out. It will only help them, and it’s nice to know your child has had more instruction than most other people on the road.
Discuss How To Deal With Stressors
The worst part about driving is having to share the road with other drivers. No matter how many years you’ve been on the road, this remains a constant. You can do everything right, and still find yourself harmed by someone else who hasn’t been following necessary practices behind the wheel.
But escalating situations is never a beneficial outcome either. Getting into a road rage incident, a battle of wits on the road, an argument from window to window, all of that just raises the potential for harm, but it doesn’t dispel it. While no one can be a monk forever behind the wheel, you can discuss your own experiences with your child and let them know how you deal with frustration and irritation when it comes. You might simply dismiss the distraction and let it pass, count to ten, or simply never give the other person the benefit of returning their curses.
Little measures like this could, quite earnestly, save a life. As such, teaching our children the value of dealing with those emotions on the road could be a vital step in them staying safe on the road.
Discuss Emergency Procedures & Roadside Assistance
Not all driving certification programs will tell you what to do and how to act if you’re involved in a collision. But it’s always best to be prepared. Again, discussing a few emergency procedures for getting out of a situation like that, especially on a busy road, can be helpful.
For example, checking over yourself first, making sure everyone in the car is safe, getting out if it’s safe to do so and moving to the side of the road, calling law enforcement or for an ambulance, and documenting the scene with photographs for a car accident lawyer can be important.
It’s not always easy to picture your child in this scenario, but going through a step-by-step guide of what to do and when to call the authorities (in some cases using those roadside phones, for example) can give you the peace of mind to know you’ve given appropriate instruction. Sometimes, that’s all you can do, prepare them correctly and see them on their way.
With this advice, we hope you’ll enjoy a sense of relief, knowing that your child is as prepared as they could be for their lifetime habit of driving.
Thank you for reading.
