We have three young adults who are currently working towards that grand life-skill of possessing their OWN driver's license. Alex continued to drive through the winter. Stacia and Allie finished up their respective driver's ed during the winter, we added all to our insurance, and told the girls we'd start behind the wheel lessons when the ice was off the ground.
Alex has his driving test with the DMV tomorrow. We set out...Stacia is making cakes at home, GG came with us, we were hoping Allie would be able to meet up with her mom for lunch while we drove. That didn't work out so she joined us for the lessons. I told Alex I KNEW we were a bit unnerving, but having a stranger in the car tomorrow may be unnerving too. Alex has been driving quite a bit and we are confident with his skills. In looking over the list parallel parking is the one skill we thought he needed practice on. We went out and did a few roundabouts, freeway speeds, and then came back to the church's parking lot to work on parallel parking.
I laid out a soda can and a frisbee and told him to park between them. ::snort:: Pastor heard us and came out. He brought out cones and told us to feel free to practice. Which we did.
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By the end of the hour he was parking like a pro |
He felt confident. He was nailing it. We drove home....and after lunch I was back in the church parking lot with Allie and Stacia. Both had had previous practice time with their father's. They told me what they'd done before, and both said it had been quite a long time since they did anything behind the wheel. I decided to set the cones up in somewhat of a course and have them go through it...focusing on turning, the space the car takes, how this car responds(as neither had done much in my van), we went back and forth with me calling for them to stop quickly at random times....turn etc. A few cones were injured - but none fatally.
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Stacia was a bit shy to start |
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Allie - like a pro |
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They were both nervous about driving up the ramp to the church, of course, I had them do that...and they got comfortable with the width of the car and how it really doesn't change when you have a confined space. LOL
And just when they were feeling pretty good about their driving, we went off the church grounds and into a residential area. I knew both were ready and were quite good at spotting potential hazards. They've called out the hazards while I've been driving for months - I knew they knew what to watch for. Both did great. They went the right speeds, stayed on their side of the road, passed parked cards when needed, watched out for kids, and neither of them ran a single stop sign.