My dad taught me to drive. With the exception of stunt drivers, he might be the best driver in the world. He is a smooth driver, no jolts, no bumps, no road rage (that I know of). He wasn't hesitant to teach me to drive his minivan. I have to say I dread every day he would say "time to learn how to drive!" I just hated the idea. Vancouver roads are tight and hilly and I was chicken. But learn I had to, for the sake of the church ladies. I was being groomed to chauffeur my parents and their lively friends from the Legion Of Mary. Oh man, I miss my parents and their friends, they were a fun bunch to drive! Anyhow, my dad was also an exceptional driving teacher. He is calm and knew exactly what to say when I would freak out at my perceived driving errors. He never showed any sign of panic even in my early days of erratic speed and jolting stops. No dramatic "oh my gosh, I won't ever get in a car with you!" (looking at you my brother hahaha). To my brother's credit I did hit the curb one too many times as I learned the drive and reverse gear. Many, many years later I can claim to be a very good driver. Not as good as my dad but not too shabby either. The one thing we are both equally good at is parallel parking (a mini-van, no less). It is a necessary skill if you live in Vancouver. My kids are always impressed by that particular talent. As a total show-off I try to impress as often as the need arises.
With that driving prowess adulation from the peanut gallery, I decided I could add driving instructor to my curriculum vitae. I try to employ the same calm and words of wisdom my dad employed with me. No hanging on the edge of my seat or yelling in panic. Fortunately, my oldest is a calm driver albeit a tad bit too over-confident. I think that comes with being a teenager so that needs tamed by humility and an understanding that driving irresponsibly can have life-changing consequences.
Currently, we are working on night driving, navigating the busier roads, and learning to maintain a steady speed in the process. So far, so good. Hopefully, by Spring I will have my very own chauffeur!
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This is one area I really don't want to teach, but I'm the one that usually does all the driving so we'll see. It may depend on which kid and personalities. I'm not looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteMy dad taught me to drive. He was the calm one. My mom tried, but she couldn't handle the stress and anxiety. I don't think I'm a bad driver though my dad did say I improved once I had kids. ?? Parallel parking though - impressive. Thankfully most places I frequent do not require that skill. :)
Self taught. Moving cars at large parties that covered the block in a very hilly neighborhood and involved parallel parking and manual transmissions. My parents just didn't have the time or the inclination for behind the wheel training and perhaps felt that after a childhood of riding motorcycles and mini-bikes that it was all taken care of. I did easily pass. Yet, training my sons is harder for me. I LOVE driving. We do a ton of travel so there is ample opportunity to rack up road miles and for said sons to take their turn at it. My eldest has been driving for 3 years now. He drives conservatively and this gives me some peace. My meeker younger son is oddly over-confident and can't wait to start the formal tracking of hours required in our state. This will occur as the snow begins to fall. Not crazy about that but we will schedule after dinner drives in the dark to tackle his hours and work on earning our sainthood. My husband is best at this. I am not. Just give me the wheel!
ReplyDeleteAh I did shorten the transmisson life of my dad's smaller car hahaha.
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