Things have changed since I was a teenager.
Internet, cell phones, texting, Facebook, the fact that everyone seems to have cable television, and the driving age.
Giggles, my recently turned sixteen year old daughter, has had her learner’s permit since she was fifteen years and six months old. In my day you had to wait until you were at least sixteen years old before you could get your learner’s permit and then you could take Driver’s Education through the school district. You only had to pay for it if you wanted to take it over the summer and then it was pretty affordable.
I recently looked into Driver’s Education for Giggles, which by the way isn’t provided by the school anymore, and the prices that they charge for Driver’s Education is a lot more than it was back in the day. Considering that I am a younger thirty something mother, ‘the day’ wasn’t all that long ago.
The people on the other end of the phone kept trying to sell me their programs by telling me one of the perks was the fact that they come out and pick up your child so you don’t have to fit drop offs and pick ups into your schedule. When asked if I dropped off and picked up would I get a huge discount so that I could actually afford Driver’s Education I was met with silence on the other end and then a quick ‘No.’
At first my husband and I decided that Giggles would just drive his car because we didn’t want to worry about a new driver messing up the van and we wanted her to learn how to confidently drive a stick shift vehicle. Then the husband’s hours picked up at work and I started taking her out to drive.
I then realized that maybe she should drive a bigger vehicle so she wouldn’t be one of those drivers that could only drive a compact car and freaks when they have to drive anything bigger. We started driving lessons in my van. All summer long I had my own personal chauffeur, and I have to admit that once I got over the queasiness of her driving it wasn’t half bad. The fighting between the girls stopped and the radio was all mine.
When the colder weather came and the conditions of the road because less predictable, I had her stop driving us around. Teaching a kid to drive in optimal conditions is one thing, ice and snow is another. She started pressing to go to Driver’s Education even more coming up with valid reasons why it would make sense for us to enroll her.
I stood firm in my ground to have the husband teach her how to drive in the ice and snow, maybe we would do Driver’s Education in the Spring. She was clearly unhappy with my revised plan to get her a driver’s license so she tried reasoning with her father, who surprisingly enough, took her side. Well, he took her side until he realized how much it was going to cost to go to Driver’s Education, then he told her that she needed to get a job that paid in money and not in trade for horseback riding.
The job search has begun.
I am screwed.
About Heather Durdil
They way my parents looked at it when I was getting my license 8 years ago was that if your teen takes drivers ed and passes with I believe a A or B you get a discount on your car insurance, which is going to go up anyway because you’re adding a teenager.
So there’s a good chance that the driving school will have paid itself off within a few months.
Twitter Name: unknwndreamer
Around here you have to pass drivers ed, also to get good rates with our insurance she has to have at least a 3.75 GPA and she has to take a course through our insurance. Plus, it’s winter in Ohio where people forget how to drive in the snow each year.
Twitter Name: DExtraordinaire
Is it ironic that when she gets the job to pay for drivers education, you’ll have to drive her until she earns enough to enroll in drivers ed? Or would it only be ironic if she quit her job right after she got her license?
Or perhaps it’s not irony at all and I should blame my high school teachers for not being more engaging when discussing irony.
Now a days you have to take Driver’s Ed (which is about $300 around here) then get good grades, and then you have to take a course from the insurance (about $100) to get decent rates. Her insurance will only be about an extra $35 a month from what we pay, but she will have to pay for that herself, so there will be no job quitting around here. And actually I don’t mind taking her where she needs to go, I kind of freak out at the thought of her driving around with some of the crazies around here in the snow.
Twitter Name: DExtraordinaire
Oh the joys of having a SEVEN year old. I go to bed nightly pretending that this will never be an issue por moi.
I am really hoping that my 12 year old has no interest in driving at 15 and a half because I don’t know…I am just not ready for my baby to grow up. And apparently for my older child to grow up either.
Twitter Name: DExtraordinaire
If it wasn’t bad enough that we have to go through this to get our own license, now we have to do it for our kids too.
This parenting gig. Sheesh.
Twitter Name: annsrants
I know, it’s crazy.
Twitter Name: DExtraordinaire
I grew up in Idaho, where you can count on snow from October to April. My parents insisted that my sister and I take driver’s ed in the winter specifically so that we would know how to handle snow because a professional taught us to do so, instead of either of my parents putting their lives at stake. I guess I’m saying that maybe driver’s ed in the winter isn’t such a bad idea. That way, she learns how to drive in the snow and ice, in a car that isn’t yours and has a brake the teacher can hit if things go wrong, and you stay safely at home, drinking hot chocolate.
She probably will take it this winter, and living here we can count on bad roads and such until about April as well. My biggest concern is the fact that she will be driving a stick shift when she has her license and driving a stick in the winter and an automatic are two entirely different animals. I just think I am not ready for her to be driving.
Twitter Name: DExtraordinaire
I am not looking forward to drivers ed at all. My oldest daughter just recently started riding her bike without training wheels. Can you imagine how much car insurance will be when she turns sixteen?
I grew up in Idaho, where you can count on snow from October to April. My parents insisted that my sister and I take driver’s ed in the winter specifically so that we would know how to handle snow because a professional taught us to do so, instead of either of my parents putting their lives at stake. I guess I’m saying that maybe driver’s ed in the winter isn’t such a bad idea. That way, she learns how to drive in the snow and ice, in a car that isn’t yours and has a brake the teacher can hit if things go wrong, and you stay safely at home, drinking hot chocolate.