learning to drive - needing MN-style support

[time4tea]

hello

I'm learning to drive and need to let off steam sometimes with likeminded people, plus share tips etc on the learning process. need a learning-to-drive mumsnet essentially. all my friends seem to have learned at 17 (I'm now 36) plus I feel extra aware of safety etc with two children. i enjoy driving in the lessons but after a disastrous mock test yesterday I realise I have a long way to go...

has anyone found out about anything like this? or is in the same situation?

Hi
I am learning as well. Finally! second dd is 7 months and living out of town I had to do it. One of the things that gets to me is the way other drivers treat learners....
IKWYM About the safety etc, think about that alot.
Do you have lessons where you feel really stupid....that was my last one, I just kept doing really dumb things!

Was just thinking back to when I learnt to drive. I was rubbish. Once I drove into the back of skip during a lesson.

My mum took her driving test the day before my younger sister was born - she passed but she doesnot how cos she couldn't reach the steering wheel by then.

Good luck

Good luck. I was 30 and had a 3 year old and a 1 year old when I passed my test on the 3rd attempt. Now, I can't imagin a time when I didn't drive. I well remeber the time before i passed, thinking that I would never ever have the confidence to go out in the car by myself, lket alone withthe kids, wbut now only 3 years later I have no problems driving anywheer. It is a truly lifechanging skill.

I'm learning too I'm 30 and have got fed up with scabbing lifts from DH. I've had about 8 lessons so far and am enjoying it more than I thought, except when I get tooted at by impatient drivers (I refuse to go out of 3rd gear).

have you tried driving on your own to build up you confidence i learned at 21 but had ds by then and i found i would only drive on my own for months before id put dh and ds in the car oh and i failed a proper test too so we all do it

hi,

I just learned to drive last year at 34. It took me three attempts to pass! The most important things for me were having a driving instructor that I was really comfortable with and driving lots! I did a semi-intensive course (so about 5 hours a week in 3 lessons) and I felt that really helped. 2 hour lessons were much better than 1 hour lessons too.

I know what you mean about being extra conscious about safety but the more I drive the less it freaks me out.

I had some pretty disastrous mock exams but I think that happens to everyone.

Good luck with it!

hope this helps

If i can do it anyone can.

thanks everyone - you are so kind. the tips are sensational

Hi there, I passed months ago aged 30 on my 5th attempt. I was so crap I was very close to giving up. How I passed my test God onlu knows but I did. I was such a nervous driver, and I had to force myself to drive to new places including motorways.

18 moths on I am a different person, I now can not imagine not driving. It did change my life.

Keep it up at good luck