to teach my teenager to drive? Rescources?

[Hedgehogscanclimbtrees]

I am horrified at the price of driving lessons - where I live I'm being quoted £38 per lesson (50 mins), and I hear they need 40 odd lessons!!! I have three teenagers so multiply all costs x 3!

I realise they will obviously need some lessons (also we have an automatic and I'd like my kids to get a manual licence) but I'm thinking of taking on some of the teaching. I know it can be stressful and might not work, but I'd like to try. My question is this: Are there any good resources out there that will show me how to teach 'correctly'. I've been driving for years but I know things have changed and they need to cover a specific syllabus.
Any good books? online tutorials? You tube advice? (for the PRACTICAL - not the theory, which is already done)

Get yourself a copy of 'LDC driving skills workbook' from eBay or Amazon

I would not recommend attempting to teach driving from scratch (unless you have nerves of steel!) but once they have mastered starting, stopping, clutch control and placement on road you can definitely to a lot of the rest yourself

DS managed to get dumped by his driving instructor (don't ask!) so we had to take over from that point as all other instructors had long waiting lists. He passed at second attempt and I quite enjoyed taking him out on 'lessons'.

I’d really encourage to have some proper lessons first - they can get a job and pay for the lessons themselves. Once they are generally OK, you can take them for practice.

How are they going to learn with you in an automatic?

Don't do it.

You'll confuse them, teach them incorrectly and ruin them for lessons. How old is each child? Surely you've got time to save between each one? Maybe all of them won't want to learn to drive. I'd just bite the bullet and go for it.

*By go for it I mean book the lessons!

https://under17driver.co.uk/

We did this with all three of our dc. It seems expensive bit the skills they learn are fabulous. Every day they gave a talk on safe driving, from how many teens die on the roads, how to tell your passengers to behave, to real life scenarios.

I was confident enough afterwards to take them onto the road myself so none of them had any lessons with instructors, all of them are now driving and none have had any accidents.

I can't praise the course highly enough and definitely recommend it.

We gave each of ours 5 lessons and then they could either pay for more or drive with us at weekends. On weekdays they would drive me to work and then get public transport back home again.

I'd make sure they have passsed their theory test first and also get them to give you a "running commentary" on a couple of drives you do first to show they understand roundabouts and speed limits etc.

Get them to pass their theory before any driving lessons. Most people don’t need 40 lessons!

My DD had ten lessons with a shit instructor. I took her out every weekend for hours.

Passed first time.

Don't do it! You will be massively out of date and you'll fall out with your teen each time you tell them to do something.

Plus most people don't need 40 lessons, my driving instructor said she had people who were test ready in under 10 up to those who needed 40.

OK I was in the 40+ bracket but I could drive perfectly well just had nerves on my test and failed 3 times.

You won’t be able to teach them to get a manual licence in an automatic car…

If you didn't have an automatic I would say go for it.
My dad taught me many years ago and I used to just go out with him every time he needed to go out and I would drive him round (the bend lol we did fall out a bit! 😄)

Let them get jobs and pay for their own lessons.

I taught both of my DSs to drive from scratch.

I think I started them off in an empty car park to get basic controls right, then progressed to really quiet country lanes where we could keep going round a loop, then eventually went on local roads, and then gradually moved up to more busy roads and some sessions on dual carriageways for higher speeds. Empty car parks are good for practising parking skills. Then its just a case of getting lots of practice in. I think that's the bit that is most important that you don't get with once a week lessons. There were a few slammed doors but nothing major.

I looked up the local driving test routes and we went round them a few times.

They both had a few lessons before their tests to make sure they were doing things correctly, but tbh, I seemed to be paying for them to just drive the instructor round without him saying anything. In one lesson that was supposed to be to practice parking, they did it twice and then spent the rest of the time just driving round.

Both passed first time.

@Hedgehogscanclimbtrees of course do it. My mum taught me, from scratch and then gave me plenty of practice driving her and my dad. I had a handful of lessons to polish off the rough edges and passed first time.

You need to be confident though, not easily riled and be up to speed on regulations.

Go out with you driving and them having a copy of the Highway Code. Point out signs/road markings and get them to find out what they mean. Talk to them about decisions you are making whilst driving, gear changes, speed changes, lane changing etc so they understand the thought processes needed. I do this now with 14YO.

Obvs no gear changes in an automatic 😂, but general road sense doesn't change with a manual.

My youngest DD passed her test an hour a go!

We took her out for lots and lots of practice, but she also had lessons. The way she was taught was totally different to how I was taught (many years ago!). I mostly told her to drive how her instructor had taught her, with me just there to help her practice. Her driving instructor was very up-to-date with the latest rules, tips etc, knew all the test routes, where the problem areas were etc. All things that I couldn't have helped her with.

Having lots of practice helped keep the number of lessons to a minimum, but the lessons were invaluable in making sure she passed on the first attempt.

You can teach them to drive, but an instructor will teach them how to pass the test.

I have no idea about teaching her yourself but my tip for everyone would be get your theory test before you start lessons, I failed mine twice and passed on the third time despite being postgrad educated, obviously a lot of people fly through but if you’re THAT person like me it can hold you back from your practical and then you have to keep lessons going, sometimes there’s a longer wait to book a test etc. just could save some potential faff and can’t harm if it wasn’t actually needed imo.

You don't need an automatic. I'm 43 and I don't drive a manual and neither will my kids as they are becoming obsolete. I don't understand everyone's obsession about learning how to drive a manual car?

I have two kids that drive. We didn't pay for lessons. They learned on ours, My DH taught them, they passed their theory, then their practical and now they share a car.

For the theory, just practice online.

Insurance is cheap for a learner but more expensive as an added driver.

I think it would be too confusing to learn in a manual car and practise in an automatic. You'd be better off not teaching them yourself or just getting them to do the automatic license. All cars will be automatic in a few years in any case, when everything switches over to electric.

Not true. You can access videos and everything you need online. My husband taught my kids and they passed first time.

Does that even matter? If her car is automatic then they can get an automatic license. Then the DC can just buy their own automatic when they are ready.

Bye getting the car and driving?

My DS only had around 8 2 hour lessons. Once he'd been started off he basically drove everywhere we went to get his confidence up. I think they need at least some proper lessons.