How To Help Your Teen Gain the Independence They Desire
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How To Help Your Teen Gain the Independence They Desire

As they grow up, it can feel like they need less and less help from you to get where they want to go – perhaps never more literally than when they learn to drive. They’ll be able to go and see friends on their own terms and do so many things that previously, they would have relied on you for – especially in sunny California it can feel like you[‘re losing them to the big wide world.

However, we all know this is all a bit of an illusion, and that there’s still plenty they need you for. One of those things can be helping them get their driver’s license, and there are a few ways you can do that.

Help Them Get Their Driver’s License

Your teen may be extremely motivated to get their license, or they may be a little more apprehensive. Right now, teens are juggling a lot, many of them having to do online schooling, restricted activities, and just generally a completely different lifestyle due to the pandemic. If your teen is eligible to have their license, but hasn’t gotten around to it yet, it can be extremely helpful  looking into California permit practice. The permit practise is an incredibly valuable tool to help your child feel prepared and confident when it comes to the actual test, without having to mess around with numerous resits. There are a few aspects to getting their license, so here are some more suggestions of how you can help your teen gain more independence by getting their license. 

Help them study

Even the most seasoned of students will need help studying from time to time, whether you need to sit down with them and make sure they’re memorising all the right facts or just test them on what they’ve already learned. They might get annoyed at you for it, but they’ll get more annoyed if they fail their driving test.

Drive with them

Your kid should definitely rely mostly on an instructor for learning how to drive, because we all develop bad habits as we get older that we don’t want to pass on – not to mention, adding the extra strain of a teacher-student dynamic to the already problematic parent-teen dynamic is bound to cause problems. But make sure you drive with them as much as possible, so that you can gently correct them on mistakes and allow them as much practice time behind the wheel as possible.

Keep your cool

It’s all too easy to freak out about your child learning to drive, as we know it’s a potentially dangerous activity and willingly letting your child do anything risky is always difficult. However, being visibly nervous about it will only make your child feel like you don’t trust them to be responsible or capable enough to do it and this will just lead them to lose faith in themselves, making them a less reliable and confident driver. Be sure to point out mistakes constructively, and always be supportive rather than critical as your child learns to drive.

Your teen might act like they don’t need you, but getting a driver’s license is a big step – and you can help them get there as long as you keep your cool and offer them the right tools.