Six Months
Posted By AmyD. on December 12, 2007
Yesterday my son turned 16. I’m writing this post ahead of time because I am quite sure that as you are reading this I am in bed trying very hard to think myself into a coma.
It goes a little like this you see, my son wants to obtain his driver’s license.
As in, he wants to D R I V E!
As in behind the wheel of a car… a real one NOT the “charge the battery for 6 hours so that it will last 15 minutes and only someone weighing less than 60 pounds will cause the thing to go faster than .5 miles per hour” kind that we bought him when he was 3.
Driving alone, on the roads, with other probably-not-as-smart-as-he-is drivers.
My sabotage of his little plan (or perhaps I should say “dream” but that makes me a dream crusher and while I am a parent I can promise those two things are not synonymous, honest!) began when he was 14. I started off warning him that he must maintain very good grades in order to have the “privilege” of driving.
When he turned 15 ½ and could get his permit, I waited weeks before signing him up for the class he had to pass to obtain the permit. I pretended to be incredibly dense so that his not-so-subtle hints could be overlooked. When that stopped working I began to act panicked every time he mentioned “permit or license” and began asking him where he learned this foreign language and how was it that he could speak it so perfectly?!?!?!
He didn’t buy it.
I signed him up for the classes, but I killed nearly 6 weeks in the meantime.
During a dental appointment our dentist’s wife asked him when he was turning 16 and if he would be allowed to drive. When he told her that he was turning 16 in December she explained that her children were not allowed to drive until they were 18 because she had read that the highest death rate in teenagers were behind the wheel between the ages of 15 and 18.
I said she had a good point. Ethan turned 6 shades of green in what was an obvious panic. I told him I loved the idea and that it was obviously well thought out. He turned a shade of white that most women would love to get their sheets in.
All in all, I’ve stalled him out 6 months on his permit. This means he won’t be able to take his behind the wheel driver’s test for 6 months.
I’ve got 6 months…
About The Author
*Shudder*
I still have about 8 years ahead of me before that dilemma crops up… Maybe I should start getting my act together? :what:
The reason that’s the worst time for kids to drive is because they’re still making mistakes as they drive. Waiting until they’re 18 and then getting a license just means that they’re new on the road at 18 instead of 15/16.
The sooner he gets on the road under heavily supervised situations, the better. You can restrict when he’s allowed to drive, you can drive with him, and you can make sure that he’s driving safely.
OK, you could go with Avitable’s plan…
OR, you could go with the FOOL PROOF PLAN:
Don’t. Get. Him. A Car.
I remember those days. The scariest ones of my life. We moved from Alaska to Florida, where daughter got her License. From an area with no stop lights, to US 19 and lots of old people who can’t see to drive.
What Avitable said.
The idea of BigBrother driving appalls me. The kid can’t walk across the room without running into something. Maybe he’ll find some grace in the next 3 years.
Good job, Mama! Both of my 16 year olds have been sixteen for several months and don’t drive. I’m afraid that’s about to end though. They are getting itchy. But, like you, I have six months.
As a once 16-year old, I loath the idea of that rite of passage that is most looked forward to as a child to be denied to anyone. However, as a parent of a child who will be 16 in 5 years, I am scared youknowwhatless at the thought of her driving.
Oh well. You have 6 months.
At least you have another six months. My daughter turned 16 in April, but didn’t get her license until the beginning of June. She did have the mandatory 50 hours of supervised driving with parents, but I still didn’t feel that was enough. I wish I’d been able to delay her driving until she was 18, but I think she would have murdered me in my sleep if I’d tried :what:
Oh my, I don’t envy you. When my daughter turned 16 she had to wait 6 months also. She started an after school job and needed the 6 months to save up for the costs associated with driving. Enjoy this time, but also know that you have raised a really smart kid who I’m sure will handle the responsibility wisely.
:unsure: Scary. I think that 6 months is a good time period to do some practicing with mom or dad. Also, Britt was right, no car, no drive. Good luck momma!
Good Lord. Take deep breaths. And drink a lot. :martini: If you are in a drunken stupor, you can’t take him down for his test.
Gah…trust me, six months is not enough.
:[ I got my license about a month and a half ago and I wasn’t prepared at all. I got into an accident about a week after I got my license, but it wasn’t anything that I did. You just can never be ready for the psychos of the world.
It probably hasn’t been helping that I keep teasing Ethan for not even having his permit
When my oldest son got to that age, I took him out ONE TIME to try to drive with him and I was a frazzled wreck. When he almost knocked a classmate off of his moped on the side of the road (and said “Oh c’mon, Mom, he’s a douche bag anyway.”), I promptly made him stop the car and got behind the wheel saying “There are people who are PAID to teach you to drive and you will not drive my car again until they are done with you.”
By the time that was done, he was awesome, and drove everytime we went anywhere together. And we’re talking Iowa weather too.
Now, once he DID get his license he became an idiot again but that was mostly gravel roads and accompanying idiots.
Hang in there baby.