Your Feb. 18 editorial “Driver’s (gulp) education” addressed, very well I might add, a matter of great importance. All of the points you raised are important.
As a parent who spent many, many hours teaching my sons to drive, I can add that there is another great benefit to teaching your teenagers to drive: It is a wonderful way to connect to your children at a time when communication can be difficult.
Riding with a 15- or 16-year-old child, with the radio, tape player or CD player off (too distracting–after all, you make the rules), for an hour or two at a time, especially at night, invites conversation, and conversation creates a connection.
While the first several hours of teaching your teenager to drive can be very tense, when you spend the 25 to 50 hours together, it gets a lot easier the more hours you do it.
