Practicng Car Control: 

1) Take your teen driver to an empty parking lot or a quiet residential area.

2) Show your child ALL the controls of the car-even if they are already familiar- and ask them to talk about them and when to use them. E.g. High beams, how do you turn it on? How can you flash it? When should you flash your high beams?

3) Start with S.M.O.G. - This is the most critical thing that we teach during our lessons. S: Signal. M: Mirrors (Middle mirror then the side mirror in direction of travel) O: Over the shoulder (to cover blind spots) G: GO- If there are no cars and it's clear don't hesittate and go. It's very important that before we change the direction of the car (Turns, Lane Changes, Parking, etc.) to signal first for at least 3-5 seconds. 

Many students and even veteran drivers look around first before they use their signal. This is incorrect, and we always want to indicate direction of travel BEFORE we check for traffic.

4) How can your child gain car control and improve her/his confidence to steer? 

Start by making many many right turns. Proper right turns is the first indication of a driver to have control of the car. 

Proper right turns in residential area: Signal half a block away or 200 feet before the turn, check mirrors and look over the right shoulder making sure there are no bikes and no cars that are moving from their parking spot, then get close to the curb blocking bicycles/ Bike lane-this is important and much observed during the Road Test. Now if there is a stop sign come to a complete stop and if there is no traffic complete the turn (pay attention to ALL-WAY stop signs and regular stop signs.)

Patience:

Many parents struggle with keeping calm and talk to their teens in a calm manner. Let's start by creating a safe environment first. Take your teenager to an empty parking lot where you know that mistakes can be made. Sometimes quiet residential areas work too.

Throughout the years, I have known many parents who just said they can't handle the stress. They ended up paying a lot of money to driving schools to cover the 50-150 hours of practice that is really needed to be a safe driver. My suggestion as a driving instructor for 30 years is to take baby steps:

1) During your first lesson with your child you can start just by going over controls and maybe move the car back and forth for few feet. 

2) Start by asking your child to turn the steering wheel all the way to the left and all the way to the right few times. This will give them a feel of the range and the force needed to turn the wheel.

3) Start off by doing 3-point turns. This will teach your child how sensitive the pedals are, and how quickly they need to turn the wheel with what force.

Always stay calm and in control of the situation. If you feel the lesson is becoming intense just stop and try again the next day- or call our school.

State of California requires teens under 18 to complete at least 50 hours of behind the wheel training with their parents or guardian. Our recommendation is 150 hours. There are many scenarios that may not come up during the first 50 hours. The goal is to expose your new driver to unforeseen circumstances, and that can take some time.