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My husband and I drive safer because of our teens

Family

I can remember when I was learning how to drive. From day one, I wore my seatbelt religiously and felt unprotected and unrestrained if I didn’t. It’s all about learning safe habits from the beginning, and I quickly became accustomed to wearing my seatbelt. I developed this good habit early on, and it’s one of those things you simply get used to and don’t feel comfortable changing. Back then, none of my family—my parents and my siblings—wanted to wear a seatbelt, maybe only when driving on the freeways to avoid getting a ticket. If I asked them to wear it, they would always respond with excuses: too uncomfortable, not safe if you get trapped… In my mind, I was annoyed by it, and I couldn’t understand why something as simple and important as keeping safe could be such a drama for them.

Over the years, I’ve developed bad driving habits, as has my husband, and honestly, everyone I know. It’s normal to develop bad habits as you gain many years of experience behind the wheel. I think my worst habit was driving too fast, while my husband’s bad habit was never using the signal and turning at the last minute. I think part of it is that we don’t pay attention to how we drive; we just drive to get to places, and if we’re in a rush, we just drive faster.

Things have changed a lot now. Everything started when my teen began their driving lessons. They started noticing our driving behaviors and calling them out. At the beginning, we were a bit annoyed by it—you know that feeling? Like, okay, he is just learning, but here he is giving us lessons. Soon, I realized he was actually doing what kids always do: paying attention to learn from us. That’s when I realized we need to be his role models. I thought to myself, I don’t want my teen to drive like me or like my husband; I want him to be safe on the road. Soon, our second teen came along with his parent-taught driver education, and by now, we were better trained. But I have to say, breaking habits is very difficult, and it takes a lot of time. We now react to bad driving behaviors; we no longer need to hear it from our kids. We’re always aware of how we are driving and how others are driving. My husband and I drive safer because of our teens.

I feel less nervous about my teens when they drive on their own, and I’m proud to be the role model that can keep them safe.

Every teen starts their driving lessons with fear; they follow best practices and drive safely, mainly because of their lack of confidence and experience. But as soon as they gain confidence behind the wheel, they will follow what they’ve learned from their parents and develop their own habits, whether bad or good. This is why the parent’s role is so important in parent-teen driving practice. Here’s the thing: you’ve been driving with your kids for years, but it’s actually when they start taking driver education that they start paying attention to your driving behavior. So it’s not too late to change your habits. Remember, if your teen calls you out for your bad driving behavior, don’t get annoyed; they’re learning from you. This is your time to be a good role model and help keep your teen safe when it’s their turn to drive.

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