How to Support and Encourage Your Teen Driver
When your teen is learning to drive and gaining confidence on the road, it is important to not just encourage them to stay safe, but also to support them so they know that their progress and skills are improving! As a parent of a teenager, you may be wondering how best to support and encourage your child as they come into their own and start gaining independence. At Trillium Driving School, we get many parents asking for insight into best ways to support their teenagers and how best to encourage safe driving and responsible practices after teens have completed driving school classes and obtained their license. Because we want to support teen drivers and their parents as well as ensure safety on the road for all ages, we've put together this guide to help parents with important tips on supporting and encouraging their teen drivers.
Ensuring Proper Education
First and foremost, your teen needs to learn the rules of the road and how to safely operate vehicles. Whether or not you teach your teen how to drive a manual stick-shift vehicle or an automatic transmission vehicle is up to you, but with the help of Trillium Driving School, you can ensure that your teen learns the rules of the road safely. The driving courses offered at our driving school in Roswell, GA and our driving school in Lawrenceville, GA are designed to teach defensive driving to your teen so they know how to react in all kinds of situations and how to safely navigate the road without endangering themselves or your vehicle. Learn more about our teen-appropriate courses and get started with enrollment here, or by using the button below.
Working on Difficulties
If you notice that your teen driver is having difficulty with a certain type of maneuver like parallel parking or changing lanes on a freeway, one of the best ways to support them is to help them work on improving that skill. Try talking to your teen about what may be causing the difficulty and get to the root of the problem. For many teenagers, driving and operating a large, unwieldy vehicle can be intimidating, so the root cause may be fear of an accident, fear of injury, or simply just unfamiliarity. Connect with your teenager about what issues you may have had with driving at their age and go over the training materials from their Trillium Driving Course to ensure that they remember the correct way to perform the maneuver they're having trouble with. If they're still unsure, find a safe way to practice this skill, such as guiding them through the step of parallel parking on a less busy street, or practicing driving on a freeway during less crowded traffic hours.
Help Them Drive More
Many parents know and tell their children that practice makes perfect. At Trillium Driving School, we believe that principle also translates to driving! The more familiar your teen driver is with navigating the roads, with controlling your vehicle, and with performing safe maneuvers and driving techniques, the more confident they will be in their driving abilities. We suggest providing many opportunities for your teen to practice driving in a safe environment. If your teen asks you to take them somewhere after they've already received their learning permit or their driving license, ask them to drive instead. If you need to run errands around town on a weekend day, ask them to drive you to the stores or locations you need to visit.
Create Non-Negotiable Rules
One of the most important ways to support your teen driver is to ensure that they are driving safely and responsibly at all times. This will help them to create healthy and safe driving habits that will also help them stay confident while on the road throughout their life. In order to create these habits, though, you'll first need to enforce firm rules that are designed to keep them safe and focused while on the road. The rules Trillium Driving School recommends setting and enforcing for your teenager include keeping the car passenger-free or limited to one or two passengers when your teen is behind the wheel. Of course, another incredibly crucial rule is a strict no-technology rule so your teen is not tempted to text, call, or scroll on their phone while driving. Many phones offer driving-specific features that are designed to limit technology use while on the road. These rules will help your teen get more familiar with driving safely and without distraction, keeping your car and your teen safer.
Emphasize Safety
Many people know that teenagers are notorious for disregarding safety. Whether it's on purpose or simply through lack of experience with different types of situations, teenagers don't always make the choice to take the safe course of action, so setting them up for success is key. Be sure to discuss safe driving while they're at home, and if you're driving while your teen is in the car with you, emphasize the safety measures you take while in control of the car. At Trillium Driving School, we don't always encourage 'scare tactics', but we do recommend being candid with teenagers about the consequences of unsafe driving. Discuss with them the potential results of unsafe driving while also being sure to treat them as the young adult they are growing into so they listen and learn without feeling like they're being treated as a child.
Emphasize Safety
Many people know that teenagers are notorious for disregarding safety. Whether it's on purpose or simply through lack of experience with different types of situations, teenagers don't always make the choice to take the safe course of action, so setting them up for success is key. Be sure to discuss safe driving while they're at home, and if you're driving while your teen is in the car with you, emphasize the safety measures you take while in control of the car. At Trillium Driving School, we don't always encourage 'scare tactics', but we do recommend being candid with teenagers about the consequences of unsafe driving. Discuss with them the potential results of unsafe driving while also being sure to treat them as the young adult they are growing into so they listen and learn without feeling like they're being treated as a child.
Teach Them Responsibility
Of course, one of the most important parts of learning how to drive and feeling comfortable on the road is learning to be responsible with their new skills. We recommend teaching your teenager how to drive responsibly first by enrolling them in driving courses at our driving schools in Roswell and Lawrenceville, GA. Other ways to offer opportunities to take responsibility include asking or allowing them to participate in paying for insurance on the vehicle they are driving (if they have a source of income, of course). In addition, if your family has other children who are younger than your teen driver, you can have them take responsibility for teaching their younger siblings about driving safety measures.
Lead By Example
One of the best ways to teach responsibility, safety, and awareness to your teen driver is to lead by example. As their parent, your teenager likely looks to you for guidance, information, and support in areas of their life that they are unsure about. Try to demonstrate the behaviors you'd like them to use while you are driving and they are in the car with you. In addition, try to be conscious of how you react to negative or unsafe situations when driving so they know that staying safe, calm, and collected when they're behind the wheel is not too difficult. Many parents are aware of how often children will mimic modeled behaviors, but fewer parents notice the same mimicry in teenagers because they will add their own personality to any behaviors they see. Provide a good example for your teen by using defensive driving measures when you drive so your teen sees safe decision making in action on the road.
Learn more about teen driving and the courses that are designed to help your teenager learn how to stay safe and responsible while driving by visiting our courses page!