Now, I'm helping our youngest.
Some things have changed, and some things have not.
When I helped teach the first two, we lived in an area with many more people. I remember driving the kids to an empty parking lot and swapping seats. Then, they would putter around the lot, practice their turning/stopping/signaling skills. They'd get a feel for the wheel, the brakes, the gas, and after a while, we'd change seats and I would drive us home.
This is when they first learned to drive. Of course, over time, they got better until eventually I would climb in the passenger seat and my child would drive us to wherever we were going and many times, would drive us home, too. But, I did not let them on a busy road with other drivers when they were first learning.
This time, it's a little different.
On Sunday, my son and I pulled out the van and I drove to rural Bothwell, Utah. If you're unfamiliar with Bothwell (rural, or otherwise...), you're not alone. I'm not dissing the place. In fact, I'll bet most Bothwell residents would prefer that people did NOT know about where they live. I chose the area for my son to get in more driving time because, well...there's not much there.
And on a Sunday afternoon in January, I suspected we'd be practically the only car on the road.
I was right.
My son climbed in the driver's seat and we were off. We did not go fast, and my son practiced pulling over and stopping several times just in case someone came up behind us and did not want to travel at the same rate of speed as us. The area was perfect, flat valley, long straight (and deserted...) roads.
The driving lesson was a success. He drove for a half hour, made two trips round a loop of a few homes and sod farms, was passed only once, and even drove by a county sheriff.
So much different than a church parking lot.
We'll go out again and probably to the same spot. My son liked it--he felt comfortable and confident. Hopefully, that will make me comfortable and confident as well.
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