I survived my son's first drive!

[Subdued]

Originally Posted by CC1

All of my kids are grown now and have driven for years. When my oldest child, my daughter, got her first car at age 16 I made sure it was a 5 speed manual transmission because I wanted all of my kids to be able to drive a stick.

She was a great driver (had started driving a little at age 13 with me in the car) and she learned how to drive that 5 speed very quickly. I was so proud and thought that I had passed on every important piece of driving know how she could possibly need.

However just two or three months after she got this car a teenage boy hit her and totaled it. She thought she wanted an automatic transmission so the replacement car had one (I was ok because I knew she knew how to drive a sitck if needed).

So months after the manual transmission car was wrecked and replaced with the automatic we got in a conversation and I turned white when I learned that the two or three months she drove her 5 speed she had almost parked and left it in NEUTRAL with just the emergency brake on!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it didn't roll down some hill and hit somebody or something. When I told her that was nuts, that everybody knows you leave a std. transmission car in gear she actually heatedly argued with me that I was wrong. Apparently she ran it by a couple of folks and when they got done laughing at her she figured out I was right.

Moral of the story is don't take for granted your kids will know or do something logical with a car, make sure you cover EVERYTHING involved with both driving and parking.

Well, once we got into our neighborhood today, I made sure to tell my son, "Don't hit the bike-rider." He said, "I know mom." Then I said, "Don't hit that person walking." He said, "I know mom." And then I told him, "Don't hit that parked car." He said, "MOM, I know." Then, as we turned onto our street, I saw my husband out jogging, so I said, "Don't hit your father."

My son did pretty good, actually. Although he sure grips the steering wheel tight!