Advertisement

5 Things to Teach Your Teen About Cars and Driving

You’ll want your teenagers to drive, since there are so many clear benefits for them and for you. You will no longer have to drive them around, they can give you a ride when it’s needed, and they’ll be taking an additional step on the journey towards adulthood. It can be a positive experience for everyone involved. But only if your teenager is responsible, and plays by the guidelines and rules that you’ve told them. Below, we take a look at a few things you’ll want to make sure that they know.


Photo Credit

It’s a Responsibility

Driving means freedom, sure, but it’s also a responsibility, and that’s something that everyone who gets behind the wheel needs to understand. They’re getting in the driver’s seat of a heavy, powerful machine that, used correctly, can bring a lot of good things: but in the wrong hands, it can cause damage. To make sure that your child doesn’t act silly when they’re driving, and that they understand the magnitude of the responsibility, you’ll need to educate them about what it means to be a responsible driver. If they’re smart and well-behaved children usually, then they’ll likely be fine anyway, but it doesn’t hurt to reinforce the message.

Basic Maintenance
The more than your teenager understands about their vehicle, the safer they’ll be on the road. This is because they’ll be able to detect when something isn’t quite right, and when their car needs to be seen to by a professional. Make sure you run through some of the warning signs that the car needs to be serviced -- the earlier a problem is fixed, the less damage it can do. You may also want to show them how to perform basic car maintenance, including changing a tire, oil, and windscreen wipers.

Things Can Go Wrong

You should hope for the best, but expect the worse. When it comes to driving, there’s no reason to believe that your teenager will be involved in an incident on the road, but the fact of the matter is that they do happen. As such, in order to be prepared, it’s important that they’re aware of what to do after getting in a car accident. This will ensure that they take all the correct steps that’ll limit the financial and medical consequences of the incident.

Friends and Influences
Your teenager might be responsible and trustworthy, but it’s not just your child that you need to be concerned about: there’s also the matter of their friends. Strange things can happen when groups of teenagers get together, and before your teenager knows it, he or she could find themselves in a peer pressure situation. And when that happens behind the wheel of a vehicle, things can go wrong. As such, it’s important that you tell your child not to be coerced into doing something they wouldn’t do if they were by themselves.

If you lay down the rules early on, then it’ll be much more likely that your teenager learns sound driving behavior before anything goes wrong.


Post a Comment

0 Comments

Comments

The ZOO banner 3