help??? how can I be a good driving teacher

[~~~water~~~ 0]

My husband is doing good driving- he is learning , but I am a nervous wreck.... We are at day 5 and last night was the first night on the real road.. Everything was fine but I just feel totally freaked out and its making him drive worse. Any tips? I feel awful I am such a bad teacher.

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

My husband is doing good driving- he is learning , but I am a nervous wreck.... We are at day 5 and last night was the first night on the real road.. Everything was fine but I just feel totally freaked out and its making him drive worse. Any tips? I feel awful I am such a bad teacher.

stick or automatic? and are you teaching him in a parking lot to start with or on the road with other cars?

[ya falaha! 0]

Don't feel bad, water. I felt the same way in the beginning. My husband tells me that my stressing makes him nervous and that he drives better without me in the car. I believe that.

BTW...he's been driving since November completely alone and doing just fine.

Just have patience.

[*JG* 2]

My husband has been driving for over a year now and I'm still not all that comfortable with him out there.

I taught my husband to drive on parking lots on Sunday afternoons for months. When I felt he learned all I could teach him, I paid 2 hours (their minimum) of driving school instruction to make sure I taught him properly. He did pass his driving test on the first try, so we must've done something right.

[honeyblonde 0]

I can relate to your pain. It took over a year to get my husbands license because I would try to teach him, he'd get mad and quit trying and not try again for months. It is probably not that you are necessarily a bad teacher. I had taught 2 sons before my husband, so I knew I could do it, but I also knew it made me very nervous. It is even harder to teach a family member since you are close enough that even when you try to hide your nervousness they can sense it. My husband heard the little gasps, and my youngest son used to ask me why my knuckles were white as I grasped the arm rest for dear life.

I bought an interactive DVD for Abdel to study with, but it requires a computer that can play DVDs or a Playstation at least level 2 (we bought a playstation 2). It seemed to help some, but I think what helped the most was when his buddy let him drive his car on the road. My husband's biggest problem was that he thought driving would be really easy and if he had a little wreck, no big deal. When he drove his buddies car and his buddy told him to pull over really quick and took back over, I think he realized it wasn't all me being controlling, I knew what I was talking about.

Do you have someone else that can help teach him? I can send the DVD to you if you'd like - we don't need it now. I know you don't know me, but Merriem and Charles and quite a few others know me and can vouch for me. I'm from way back on here but quit coming here when I didn't need it much anymore. We're doing removal of conditions now so I'm here a little for that.

Feel free to PM me any time if you like. I get notices in my private e-mail when I get a PM here. (Yes Charles, I got your message. I won't come back a lot, but will drop in from time to time.)

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

Feel free to PM me any time if you like. I get notices in my private e-mail when I get a PM here. (Yes Charles, I got your message. I won't come back a lot, but will drop in from time to time.)

good to see you back, i miss your posts

[Minya's wife 24]

As Charles pointed out, depends on whether he's learning on a stick or an automatic. I taught my husband, (first time driver....never drove before) to drive a stick. It took 2-3 months of driving in parking lots and the back streets of our neighborhood at night. I must have done something right, because he passed the test (both written and driving) on his first try. He's been licensed and driving his own car for a little over two months now and doing just fine....but he still tells me every once in a while that there's no need for me to hit the brakes on the passenger side...it does no good.

The nervousness just comes w/ the territory....just try to not show it as much as possible because it can affect their concentration/performance.

-P

[~~~water~~~ 0]

Thanks everyone ....

Well it is an automatic

We did two days in a parking lot.

Then my dad went with us in a industrial area for an hour and another friend took him on some quiet streets for an hour. So he has had about 6 hrs behind the wheel.

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

Thanks everyone ....

Well it is an automatic

We did two days in a parking lot.

Then my dad went with us in a industrial area for an hour and another friend took him on some quiet streets for an hour. So he has had about 6 hrs behind the wheel.

automatic is easier to learn with. however, something you can also do is when you are driving and both of you are going somewhere, you can talk to him about what you are doing, why you are doing it, what errors other drivers may be making and so on.

residential streets are probably better than industrial areas imo.

[honeyblonde 0]

One more thing I wanted to add. Our state requires new drivers to have a responsible party sign an affidavit that they drove 40 hours under supervision before they will give them a license. This is normally for teens, but they told Abdel he would have to meet that requirement too. They ended up not asking for it when he went to get his license, but it made him let me ride with him for at least 40 hours before he went for his license. It made a huge difference. He passed the first time, and we even have to do parallel parking here.

6 hours really isn't going to help him prepare for any emergency. What is the minimum time between permit and license where you are? I think it's 6 months here but I'm not sure. There are so many things like merging into traffic and driving in traffic in the rain that new drivers really do better with if they have an experienced driver in the car to help them the first few times. It sounds like you're doing great at getting him the training he needs.

Good luck!

PS: Thanks Charles.

[doodlebugg 10]

Every guy I've ever dated, other than my ex, always ended up pulling over to the side of the road and switched to let me drive 'cause they couldn't take my b!tching at them and stomping on the fake brake all the time. And these were seasoned drivers from the USA!!!

I think playing Frogger and playing double dutch jumprope will help too.

Edited April 8, 2008 by bridget

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

Every guy I've ever dated, other than my ex, always ended up pulling over to the side of the road and switched to let me drive 'cause they couldn't take my b!tching at them and stomping on the fake brake all the time. And these were seasoned drivers from the USA!!!

I think playing Frogger and playing double dutch jumprope will help too.

[Nutty 2]

I've been through this before.

My suggestion is to have your husband go to a professional driving school.

[Nutty 2]

I've been through this before.

My suggestion is to have your husband go to a professional driving school.

[anitacastillo 0]

Water --

First, where we live is not an easy place to drive. And it is great that your dad/friend can help also. Has he been studying the DMV book?

Maybe while you drive you can tell him what you are looking for -- checking mirrors, looking for traffic, etc.

My honey, a seasoned driver, went through a stop sign on Friday pm -- "because no one was coming...". I explained that you have to stop - even if it is a CA rolling stop - even in the middle of the night.

I try to control my reaction to his errors. On Sunday, I was going to tell him what a good job he did and then as we turned off the offramp with the two left hand turn lanes - he crossed over to the other lane.

Good Luck!!