To teach my 3 sons to drive myself?

[girlwhowearsglasses]

One is 19 next week, the other two are 17 in July. DH never passed his test and is actually a good driver if only he could pass his theory and get a driving test.

i am beyond fed up of taxi-ing now as you can imagine. We are rural and no buses although the station to London is a 6 min drive (1.5 h walk though).

is there any way of doing this that doesn’t involve at least three sets of driving lessons! They do have jobs but also study and they just wouldn’t afford all the lessons themselves.

I bought the cheapest level of car for insurance last year and it’s insured for the 18 year old, and I’ll insure it for the other two too.

anyone taught their kids themselves? Or got some lessons to start and then gone forwards themselves? I’m quite patient and we do get on well….

My Bil taught my niece to drive and she is a better driver than him now!

Sorry, but your comment about your DH's driving has a touch of the Lady Catherine's about it 😀

"If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient."

If you're a good teacher, go for it. Think through how to break down each of the skills and build up practice in the safest environments possible.

My children had a few lessons and I then took them out for practice driving and then they had a few lessons before their tests.

Me too.

I was taught to drive by my Dad when I turned 17. It caused far too much tension between us and although I passed my test first time I vowed then that I would never teach my own children to drive because I would prefer that we continued to get along and to preserve our good relationships.

I don't want to criticise my Dad too much as he was a good man and he gave me lots of his time over many months. It still wasn't our finest hour though. He was a total perfectionist (nothing necessarily wrong with that) and I was very nervous so often fell short. I'm glad I passed but I have never been a natural driver. I just tolerate it.

DH's mum tried taking him out too when he was learning and they couldn't get on over it either. They fell out and she threw him out of the car to walk home! They never tried it again and he too was keen not to repeat the experience with our children. So we didn't.

Our DDs funded their own lessons from their part time jobs.

We live rurally and the first thing mine wanted to do was driving lessons as they were so fed up with the poor bus service. I was having to take them to work and pick them up etc.

We did a mix of professional driving lessons supplemented with driving with me. I made sure they had lessons initially to get their road confidence before I took them out though. It is super expensive but it is just a point of getting through it. They used their part time job earnings and I supplemented any extra. Once they have their licence they have it for life and it gives them so much freedom if they live in places without a good bus service.

You need some lessons.

but time to practice is the biggie. I got mine to drive both school runs and it improved their driving very fast.

instructors know the test routes. You do really need to practice driving them especially if they are tricky

Can confirm my own test was similar in rural Scotland. I passed first time, as did maybe 50% of my friends (and all my siblings). It is a bit crazy but then you can't have whole swathes of the country without test centres and a lot of city drivers are incapable of driving on country roads so it goes both ways.

Get them 4 or 5 lessons each and then take over yourself. Basically whenever you go anywhere one of them drives.

That’s how I learnt to drive in fact in my country most people learn to drive with their parents and only have a few lessons with an instructor to get used to the test route and technical things you may encounter on a test. I plan to teach my kids and have them drive with us for years before they take their test and drive independently.

If you can do automatic, then easy Peasy.

I did lessons with DS2 in an automatic, all we could I sure him on at the time. He got the basics of manoeuvring and driving on a road in an industrial estate between two car parks. We’d go after work and do loops, parking at each end.
Once he was confident he swapped to an instructor with gears, and only had that bit to learn along with the current guidance about junctions etc.

DS1 we did lessons in a manual before he started with an instructor. Same deal- forward and reverse, parking and driving up and down the industrial estate. Then polish with an instructor.

DH was a nightmare and still doesn’t drive. He pressed the accelerator instead of the brake and I didn’t go out with him again.
However the instructor said he was a good driver who panicked and made mistakes on his tests.

The twins can have lessons at the same time, one in the back learning from his sib’s mistakes, then swapping.

Kent

He failed about 16 years ago on a minor thing and let his theory lapse. He’s got dyslexia and the theory test is booked

You don’t get a fail on “something minor” unless there’s quite a few “minors”!

I passed recently with just dh teaching me, honestly nearly ended up in divorce at times and I don’t think I’d have passed if i was in a busy city, it’s just a very rural area so a bit of an easier test centre.

I would do a mix of lessons and just driving experience with you rather than full lessons.

So you’ve been driving around your husband (and sons) for two odd decades?!

I taught my youngest to drive. There were a few arguments but it was fine. Saved a fortune. I’d try and get him a few formal lessons alongside

You could totally teach them how to drive but I'd recommend getting them a few sessions with an instructor before their exam. Unfortunately understanding how to pass the test is half the battle and there are things that might be "normal" but if you did enough of them in an exam they'd fail you for it.

You can do it if you're determined. Everything is online now, test routes, Show me Tell me etc. I taught mine but they also had professional lessons. We did a lot of time at first in quiet industrial estate, lots of reversing and manoeuvring as we found instructors don't do loads of this. Gets confidence up.
Then as PP have said, let them drive you everywhere you go. Learn to bite hard on inside of cheek, sit on hands, not put foot through floor of car etc

You know the "oh god" handle above the door. You are about to find out why it's called that.

Also worth putting something in the passenger footwell you can slam your braking foot down onto.

I did this with both my DC.

Let them do all the driving, messages, and pick ups. To get to know all round driving.

Then spent loads of time in big empty car parks, doing manoeuvres and parking.

Also big industrial estates early on Sundays.

Both DC got one proper lesson with an instructor to learn the 'routes' in our area and to get used to his car. Which we also booked for the test.

Both passed first time.

But I'm quite a calm person and was quite relaxed.

🤣🤣🤣
My mum took me on a lesson, I can't remember what she criticised, but I pulled over and walked the 2 miles home 🤣🤣🤣

I would love to teach my sons. My dad taught me. Everything was fine. Good luck!

I think generally this is a bad idea .you need some professional tuition .backed by practice with mum.maybe start on a quiet country road, to going out at quiet times.try a female instructor. I had a great one .very patient and good. Dh failed then passed with an older lady

Id look up how to do basic instruction (bound to be an online stuff) then take 19 yesr old every night for 20 mins