Driving Along in My Auto Mobile

 Last week G3 earned her learner’s permit after hours of diligently studying the Tennessee Drivers’ Handbook along with meeting the requirements that we have at home for such a privilege. Once she earned it, she shared with many of her friends on Facebook and Twitter and they were very excited for her.

Then it hit. ADULTS started asking if her sister(s) had also gotten her’s. I will admit, this bothered me. 

If you follow our Facebook Page, you might remember a status that was posted referencing knowing your own child and that just because a child is sixteen it does not mean that they are ready to get behind the wheel of a car. I will explain. G3 is the youngest of our girls and she turned fifteen at the beginning of August. G2 is also fifteen and will be sixteen in February. G1 will be eighteen in November. Each of our children has different maturity and responsibility levels, to say they are all the same would be to deny their individuality. This is a common thread that any parent with more than one child can see. This is also why many professionals warn parents to not compare children with the peers too much because the grow differently and milestones are merely indicators.

With our girls, we have had the discussion about driving and the requirements. G2 has said multiple times that she is not interested in driving. This has been exasperated especially so since our wreck last year, she is terrified to drive.  This is understandable as horrible as the wreck was and how bad it could have turned out. G1 is interested; however, her free and creative spirit does not like to comply with requirements set forth. 

Now everybody wants to know what these stringent requirements are, I am sure. Well here it is. After the wreck last summer, we had said there was no way we were going to let any of the kids drive. It was a knee jerk reaction and after we calmed down, we realized that was wrong. This past spring we said the requirements for learners’ permit/ drivers’ license would be that they had to be doing well in school (turning homework in on time, etc), doing their chores consistently, be respectful, show responsibility and maturity. If they did that then they could learn how to drive our Geo Metro.  G1 balked at the idea and G3 jumped at it. Our reasoning behind which vehicle is two fold. The first and most important is that our Expedition is the people mover and the vehicle we rely on the most. The second reason is that the Metro is a manual transmission and we believe that it is best to learn to drive a manual so that the skill is there to fall back on in the future.

Considering that we, my husband and I, look at having a driver’s license as a privilege I am surprised that I am writing about this; yet, maybe there are other parents that have the same issue. Maybe you have a younger child that has proven itself and you are afraid of what others would say if you allow them the privilege and not the older. It is my opinion that privileges are earned, they are not a right.

For Information About the Tennessee Graduated Driver License Program (http://www.tn.gov/safety/driverlicense/gdl.shtml)