How to Teach Your Teen to Drive

The time has come. Your teenager has started making noises about learning how to drive. You’ve dreaded this moment but you know you have to do it. Your dulcet darling wants behind the wheel and they are the legal age. What to do?

Don’t Delay, Start Now

This might seem counter-intuitive but you will want a good head start on this process. Most provinces have something called a graduated driver’s license. This means there are steps your teen will have to take over two or three years before they are able to do things like drive after dark. Every province is different so check with your local registry such as Service Alberta, that's where I live.

If you live in a city where transit is safe and accessible for your teen, it’s easy to think that it’s not really necessary. Or maybe your family is environmentally-conscious and you don’t want your teen to contribute to carbon pollution.

Here are a few reasons why it’s a good idea:

Your teen might have to take a serving job that has her working late shifts and taking the bus at 1:00 am. I don’t know about you but my faith in transit system safety starts to take a nosedive after about 8:30 pm.

Or your teen might move to a different city for college and not have access to good transit. If your teen is taking a nursing degree, he may have to have to get from a practicum placement, to classes, and then a part-time job all in the same day. This is not super-conceivable without a car.

Get Professional Driving Lessons

After your teen has written the exam and gotten his learner’s permit, you might want to jump right into teaching him to drive yourself. And this does need to happen but you will want to supplement your practice together with some professional training.

The fact is you’ve probably developed some driving habits. Some of them are really good but others...not so much. Maybe you shoulder-check like a pro but get nervous when passing big rigs. You don’t want to pass all of them onto your teen.

The other perk is that putting your teen through a professional driving program. This can get you and your teen a discounted rate on auto insurance. Insurance companies recognize certain kinds of driver training so check with them before buying lessons.

Make Driving Time Quality Time

Make things like driver safety, responsibility, and how to handle certain situations (like planning a night out) a regular part of your conversations. You can also use the time to explain how they can save money by avoiding traffic violations and taking advantage of young driver discount programs like usage-based insurance.

Set a regular schedule for driving practice with your teen. Pick a time that both you and your teen are going to be relaxed. Plan out your time together. You might have the idea to practice parallel parking but your teen wants to take on the highway, discuss ahead of time to avoid in-car arguments.

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