[blParent] Request for any tips and strategies to support my teen's driver's education journey

Wed May 20 14:16:19 UTC 2026

How much confidence do you have in driver's ed?

Around here, my 2 kids never got the full required, state mandated hours of driving in, even though we paid for them to have private driver's ed through the college instead of high school. Maybe the 1 on 1 made up for it?

Deciding your confidence in the instruction she is getting should help you decide if additional driving with someone else is needed. Check state laws, but usually there are requirements for co-drivers/passengers, especially if it is a learners permit, or POP (provisional operators permit). Most states do not go to a straight "license" anymore. At 16, I'm guessing she is going to get some type of POP, usually you have to have your learners to take driver's ed. Which means she has already studied and passed a test at the DMV.

Why are you studying the materials? Do you normally study her school material and help her with it? If not, why this exception for driver’s ed?

You don’t need to justify it to anyone, but I think it’s worth being honest about the reason. There’s a difference between studying so you can answer questions about traffic laws while she’s learning versus studying because having a licensed driver in the house would make life easier for the family. I’m not making assumptions or judging either way, just pointing out that motivations matter. The "pressure" to perform will impact your daughter's driving and not in a good way.

As far as the blind parent part, I'm sure you've ridden with experienced drivers, you know what it "feels" like. You can feel if she is braking too hard, accelerating too fast, cornering too wide/narrow, jerky around steady curves like off ramps, etc. Help her be a smooth, confident driver.

Teach her situational awareness. Drivers need to know what is going on 360 degrees, NOT just in front. When she is driving, and when traffic isn't so bad, reach up and knock the rear view mirror out of alignment and ask her what was behind her, if she can't answer, she wasn't paying attention to everything.

If her car has all those fancy sensors for lane detection, adaptive cruise, etc. turn them off and make her drive without them. They will NOT always work and becoming reliant on them makes for a lazy driver.

The person riding with her needs to stay calm while in the car. Kids pick up instantly on tension or panic from passengers, and it makes them drive worse. If the person riding with her is going to be anxious, it’s honestly better to have that person step back for a while and let another adult handle practice driving.

Start early on teaching her to be responsible for the car itself. Keep it clean, know when it needs an oil change, check the tires, and pay attention when something sounds or feels off. A well-maintained car is a safer car. I'll be honest, I'm still fighting that battle with my 20-year-old. You can lead them to the dipstick but you can't make them check it.

In short it comes down to your confidence in her current driver's ed instruction and your daughter. High confidence in both, then don't sweat it, low, well then consider additional instruction and even delaying the license.

If your daughter has a good head on her shoulders, and a bit of common sense, driving isn't all that scary. Coming out of driver's ed, she will probably drive better than 75% of the idiots on the road.

Driving is 98% experience. Neither driver's ed instructors nor you can teach her everything there is to know.

Both my kids have clocked 20-30k miles annually since they were 14. One accident between them, a front right tire blowout on the highway. They're now 20 and 18. Donations for gas are welcome.

The one thing that makes the biggest difference and we have NO control over, is the other drivers.

-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent <blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jennifer Bose via BlParent
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2026 19:52
To: blparent <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jennifer Bose <jen10514 at gmail.com>
Subject: [blParent] Request for any tips and strategies to support my teen's driver's education journey

Hi, blind parents. My daughter is 16 and taking driver's education classes, hoping to go through all the steps and get her license soon. Her dad and I are both blind; he was able to drive until his early 30s; I only ever drove a bike and a small tractor a few times. I'm wondering what other blind parents have done to support their kids' driver's ed process. I'm studying the written test, and of course I'm paying any related fees, but what else?
Interested in anyone's thoughts. Thanks.

Jen
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