Teaching Boys to Drive - On Boys Podcast

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Teaching boys to drive can be exciting,

scary.

and intimidating.

Boys are more likely than girls to speed, drink while driving, and take chances when they have passengers in the car.

“I think he thought driving was going to be super intuitive,” says Carole, mom of Lucas, a newly-licensed driver. “When we started, he was like, ‘Whoa, this is not at all what I thought it was going to be!’ It’s not Forza.”

No matter how many hours your son has logged Forza and other popular driving video games, it’s a good idea to start his real-world driving adventure in a parking lot or other wide-open space where he can gain experience without worrying about other drivers.

But even after your son has mastered the basics of driving, it can be unnerving for parents to hand over control of car.

“It was definitely hard to see him drive off the very first time,” Carole says. “It immediately brought me back to when he was in 5th grade and wanted to ride his bike to school. We don’t live on a super bike-able road, so we talked about it and we biked it together and the day he rode off by himself, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just have to trust that everything I’ve done up to this point is going to be enough.'”