No two states have exactly the same requirements if you’re trying to get a driver’s license. However, you can still expect universalities. It follows that as a parent, you should come up with a playbook for teaching your teen to drive where you use patience, knowledge, and the benefit of your personal experiences on the road over the course of your life.
In Texas, teens must take 32 hours of driver’s education classes. They might grumble about that, but it’s for the best. Classroom time doesn’t equal driving time, though, and your teens will need both practical experience behind the wheel and knowledge they take from books if they’re to become licensed drivers.
In this article, we’ll talk about how Texas parents should prepare their teens to pass their driver’s license test. If you have a teenager who’s approaching this critical step, you must do all you can do get them ready.
Start with the Basics
To begin, you should take your teen to a locale where they can experience driving for the first time and there’s no pressure from traffic. A deserted parking lot makes the most sense.
Maybe you’ll spot an abandoned mall with no cars around, or perhaps you’ll go to a church parking lot when there’s no services. You might find a school parking lot with no one in it if it’s summer vacation.
No matter where you go, you should have no cars or other objects around that your teen driver could potentially hit if they panic and lose control of the vehicle. Once you get there, sit in the driver’s seat, with them beside you in the passenger’s seat.
Show them the gas and brake pedals. They probably know about them already. Next, show them the different gears they can put the car in and explain what they do.
Show them the driver’s side mirror and passenger’s side mirror. Show them the rearview mirror and tell them how they can adjust it.
Next, show them all the controls on the dashboard. Tell them what it means when a “check engine” light comes on. However, don’t overburden them with too much information. Go slowly and let them ask any questions that come to mind.
Give Them Control of the Car
Next, get out of the driver’s seat and let them take over. You can sit beside them in the passenger’s seat. Now, the moment of truth comes. You can let them take the car out of park and roll forward a little before gently applying the brakes.
As a parent, this part might scare you a little, but try to project confidence. If you have a fairly confident teen, they should do fine, but if you have an anxious youngster, you need to try and convey to them that they’re doing fine, even if you’re privately a little worried. They should pick up on your body language, so try to emphasize that you believe in them.
Let them try driving forward, braking, and then driving forward again, just like they would do in stop-and-go traffic. Let them practice that for a few minutes. Then, you can let them drive around in circles in the parking lot for a bit.
Eventually, they should feel like they’re ready to get out on the road. This step might intimidate them, but you can set them up for success by driving them to a neighborhood that has quiet back streets and very little traffic.
Take Them Out on the Road
Once you’ve selected a neighborhood that feels right, you can let your teen take the wheel once again while you sit beside them. Let them drive around in this quiet neighborhood. Ideally, you should pick some streets with no traffic lights.
Your teen can practice stopping at some stop signs. Make sure you tell them that they need to stop entirely rather than doing a rolling stop, as they must do this during their driving test.
Once you have both satisfied yourselves that your teen can stay on their side of the road, turn from one street onto another, and that they can keep their eyes on the road and not let anything distract them, you can move over to some busier streets. You can direct your teen where to go.
Let them practice rolling through intersections with traffic around them and waiting at red lights. You should gradually see their confidence build.
Try to spread a few lessons over a period of days or weeks. You don’t want to overload your teen with too much information or difficult driving situations all at once.
Get Out on the Highway
Finally, you will let them get out on the highway with you sitting beside them in the passenger’s seat. This will probably intimidate them more than ever, and possibly you will feel the same way.
However, if you’ve taught them about merging and how they must behave when they’re in a high-speed environment, they should do fine. Try to pick a time off hours when they will not have cars flying by on either side of them.
In Texas, you have many highways from which to choose, especially if you live close to or in a major city. No matter which one you pick, though, you should make sure your teen logs some hours there before they get to the point where they feel they are ready to take the driving test.
The combination of practical, on-the-road experience and classroom lessons will prepare your teen. Monitor them as they go through this process and try to assess how they are doing. While some might take to driving like a duck to water, others may have a little more trouble.
If they play video games, that may help them. Hand-eye coordination becomes important when you’re driving, and video games can reinforce that. If your teen passes their driver’s test, you should feel proud. They’ve taken another step toward adulthood.
