For those of you who do not have a child with ADD ( Attention Deficit Disorder) you may find this hard to believe but it is true!
My daughter is 18, we finally got her car plated today so that she can learn how to drive a 5 speed. She saved up ,000 an dbought a NEon stick shift from a gentleman down the road. A nice car, she did good, and all by herself I might add.
Today we got the plate for it and she wanted to learn how to drive it because I have an RD appt. out of town and she has an interview for a job. I cannot possibly make it back to Michigan in time so she has to learn how to drive a stick shift.
9 hours later....YES nine hours later she is doing much better. COurse I have to deduct 30 minutes for the typical mother/daughter argument we had, then another 30 minutes because she had to have a new outfit for her job interview, then toss in 20 minutes because we had another argument because the tops she bought were definately innappropriate. WIth that aside, take of another 30 minutes for our lunch, and 10 minutes that I took to fill up her tank ( before the argument) and I still had a full day of working with her trying to teach her how to use the clutch without the differential or the transmission falling out of the car....it was iffy.The car only smeeled of burning metal once when she rode the clutch all the way into town. Only once. SO that is a good thing.
For those of you who may encounter this feat with a female daughter with ADD, the trick is to spend 1 1/2 hours in a school parking lot having her practice just stopping and letting the clutch out(SLOWLY) without touching the gas. That took me about 3 hours to figure out. Once I had her try that it was much better and was easier for her to comprehend.It also gives her a point of focus when she kills the engine after jolting the car at a busy intersection.
At least i knew how to drive a stick shift, flare or no flare.....I still have to and want to raise my daughter, sometimes it just takes so oooo long!
I also learned that a Neon is a Dodge cause the headlight stopped working and I also learned that not all cars have the headlights that automatically turn off.................geesh!
jode
Jode - What a day. You won't believe this but it just makes me miss my daughter. Today will bring you lots of laughs with your daughter down the road. It gave me a giggle. Glad you survivedIt's awesome having another driver in the family though. I love that my son now drives. He runs errands for me and picks up his sister if I have a scheduling conflict. It really helps out. PLUS; I no longer have to run all over town late at night to pick him up from whatever it is he's doing that day. It feels great.
Hate the insurance expense though. I had to insist my son get a job. Course I've yet to get any money from him....but it's coming soon. He needs to understand there's more to cars than gas. I think it's awesome that your daughter paid for her own car. She'll appreciate and respect it more than those kids that have a car handed to them.
We're getting there. My daughter takes her driving lessons this summer. She'll have a license sometime this year. It's scary, thinking of her being on the road, but she & I will both appreciate it when she gets her freedom.My poor son was taught by me. And, he's out on the road now. This should scare you.
I did enjoy teaching him. I took him out in parking lots and then out on the Indian Reservation because there was less traffic. However, after three hours out there, there also no bathroom and also no bushes and just enough traffic to make it a problem.
So after all my careful instruction, I speed back into town and cut across three lanes of traffic to park at an extreme angle at the nearest bathroom.
Then, I did what any true parent would, told him never to drive like that.
He seems to be surviving. I think his friends have took over his Driver's Ed. I rode for him the first time in his car the other day. Not too bad. He missed hitting one idiot that was making a sudden turn. But not too bad at all and I wasn't even holding my breath.
Just now getting back to my post, and you all have made me feel much better; at the time I was teaching her it did seem near impossible and that she never would learn how to drive a stick shift! This is her second car after she totaled my car, so my nerves were gone quite some time ago(giggle).
The other night I had to take her the xtra car key ( the goofball locked her keys in her car at her bfriends' house) and I drove behind her on the way home. I laughed sooooooooo hard. It was like watching your toddler from behind as they learn how to walk trying to keep their balance. Everytime she would shift there would be a bit of a wobble in her driving along with a bit of a lunge.....it is a memory that will not fade.
She did say that whenever she kills the engine when going into first gear, she just remember the parking lot and does fine. Although today she came home griping that she hated her car cause she is getting tired of shifting!!!! I just chuckled which only made her a bit more aggravated. She does love her freedom though and appreciates the fact that I let her come and go as she pleases. (Afterall she is 18 as she reminds me daily) I typically see her little red car in the driveway and her dragging herself up the sidewalk when she runs out of money!lol
Her interview went well but there were many applicants, fortunately she has a lot of experience from working at a grocery store in Indianapolis when living with her father. She said as soon as she gets a job she will pay her insurance, and save for a car with an automatic transmission! You are all correct, this is a time for great memories. SHe has been my saving grace in this life that is for sure.
jode
It sounds like she is getting the hang of it! My sister, who is 11 years older than me spent 2 hours adding oil to her first car back when she was a teenager. When she came in the house my dad asked her what took her so long, she said "it's really hard getting the oil in that little hole!" Duh, she had poured it in where the dip-stick goes!
Now I know it's not just me. I too have an ADD daughter...she's been learning to drive for about 5 years now. She can drive but is lousy at parking no spatial awareness at all. She also is fearful due to her ADD zone outs. She wants to go back on ritalin so that she is more alert of what is going on around her. She wants to go back on for university studies too, feels it is causing issues with her concentration etc. But, back to driving, she eventually learned and when she isn't in a bad temper she's not bad, now we just have to convince her to go for her license and get her own car.
Then again I have and ADHD son who thinks that the family sedan is a Formula 1 race car and every street wider than a side street is a race track and corners are to be either cut or taken wide. Him I'm not so worried about getting his license yet, maybe the older he gets, he may calm down a bit.
I don't know how parents ever live through their kids learning to drive. I don't know how kids ever live once they start driving on their own.
It certainly is an experience sitting in the passenger seat for a change, although I'm kind of looking forward to getting my drivers seat back sometime in the not too far future.
Speaking of ADD, my hubby has it and nobody in the family will ride with him including me!! Good luck to all of you...LOL