I'm convinced even under the best of circumstances, having teenagers in the house fertilizes the scalp for gray hair. Certainly relational angst contributes, as does juggling academics and extracurriculars, but the one thing that will clutch your heart like a wart-nosed witch's gnarly taloned fingers and mercilessly squeeze it til it's barely beating is your child turning 15…
…and receiving his/her driver's permit.
Having gone through this two years ago with my oldest, I'm hopeful it will be easier this time around. Will my son reap the benefit of us having endured this torturesque training ground and rite of passage with his older sister? Will we be more laid back? Have I ever buckled my seat belt more quickly? Clutched the armrest more tightly? Prayed more earnestly???
There might not be any atheists in foxholes, but I can't imagine there being any in the passenger seat of a car driven by a boy whose voice changed just last week.
He's got a swaggered confidence that eluded his sister and, if properly guided by his side- and back-seat driving parents, might serve him well.
This morning was his inaugural Drive To School. Reaching for any positive reinforcement I could offer (and suppressing the urge to fling open the car door, shove him out and take over the wheel), I complimented how closely he drives to the right line; inadvertent games of "Chicken" had been an issue with my first driver.
In an effort to placate me by conceding that Mama Knows Best, perfectly serious the kid quips, "Well, I'd rather hit the curb than a car," and I decided right then and right there we were gonna be alright.
Relatively speaking ;).
Your turn: If your kids are younger, are you looking forward to or dreading having another driver in the house? If yours are passed this age, do tell your war stories!!
Busy Girl just got hers last week. We’re still alive, so there’s that.
The first day my daughter got her permit, we were driving around and she pulls into an apartment complex the wrong way – right by the sign that says “DO NOT ENTER”. This conversation followed:
Me: Sissy – did you not see the sign?
Sissy: Yes I did, but it is ridiculously small – who makes signs that small?
Me: So you saw it and turned in anyway?
Sissy: Well yeah – they need to get better signs.
Good Times!
My kiddos are in preschool right now, so I’m not doing the chauffeur routine yet, but I do remember family car trip improving when there were four drivers in our family instead of two. We got places a lot faster, especially after we were making those 18 hour drives from Florida.
I’ll keep driving for now, thanks. 🙂 I do let my kids “drive” in wide open parking lots. They love it.
I don’t think I’ll be able to teach my kids to drive. Thank God I have quite a few years!
You’re a brave woman!
-FringeGirl
I have right at a year before my oldest can get her permit. I’m scared already, but I’m more scared for when my son can get his permit. I have another five and a half years to prepare myself.
Oh Robin, LOL, you do crack me up! So true, so true…
P.S. I’m having a giveaway, come on by!
Oh , this is so my world , again, child # 3 almost ready for solo. (the testers are on strike) Honestly I am so nervous as the passenger it is easier to hand over the keys sometimes. My oldest , a boy, was nearly the death of me, yet I relied on him to get us home safely one night in the fog since he is so fearless and I was in tears. Grace.
My second grey hair maker is cautious and patronizing and hit a car the first day we let her take the car to school.
If I survive all of this, my next 2 will either be sitting next to a shell shocked zombie , or I’m hitting up a neighbour.
LOL, been there, done that THRICE!! By the time the third one went through it, he got his driver’s license, and a month later was taking solo trips to other states–who’da thunk!! We were a little more stringent with the oldest two.
So . . . it got easier for us . . . the oldest two are 23 months apart and then youngest is 7 years younger so by then we weren’t adding gray hairs, we were SUBTRACTING them :0
I can’t even imagine it.
Mine are 4, 2, and 7 months.
Mine aren’t old enough yet…but we have too many to fund insurance for so who knows what will happen. I’m a new lurker here at your fun site and just wanted to let you know when I read (in an earlier post) that you had teens…my jaw dropped. You do not look old enough to have teens. I really enjoy your site.
I’d rather hit a curb, too.
Thank goodness we’re 10, wait NINE years from that milestone.
SHEESH
HUGS and love and MWAH babydoll