Posted on 02/16/2026 7:48:48 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
As a mom of three kids, Christina Mott had been counting the days until her oldest son, Colton, got his driver's license.
It falls on her to drive each of them — age 10, 12, and 16 — to three different charter schools every day, and then to extracurriculars and social outings. "Having him able to drive himself would free up a lot of time," she says. If only.
While out one day on his learner's permit, Colton rolled through a red light and a stop sign. He panicked and decided to put his license on hold indefinitely. "Getting in crashes, that's something that scares me a lot," Colton explains.
That means his mom is still chauffeuring three kids around their Northern California suburb. Christina, who's 46, says a lot of her fellow parents are going through the same thing: Teenagers are slamming the brakes on the time-honored rite of passage of getting a license at 16, either out of fear or because they're put off by the process or the costs. And that means a lot of Gen X parents are stuck behind the wheel longer than they bargained for.
Even so, she admits Colton doesn't feel quite as ready for a license as she was at 16. "He's not very observant and tends to live in his own world," she says. "I don't think, without GPS, that he would even know how to get to the grocery store from our house that we've lived in for eight years. So, the idea of him dealing with traffic lights and other drivers makes me nervous, too."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
*shrugs* Okay, one parenthetical mention.
26 sounds like a good age for everything important: Voting, driving unaccompanied, entering into contracts including military, jury duty, drinking alcohol, informed medical decisions 🤔)... 26 is the “new 18” on the maturity scale. You can be on your parents’ medical insurance until 25, last I checked, and no need to be in college. Regardless of age, if you are stopped two times for moving violations, the 3rd time you have to prove your competence (medical, mental, eyesight, reaction time) to keep your license. Yes, I know people drive with a suspended license, but if they are involved in another infraction, Jail time directly.
“getting your driver’s license at 16 used to be a symbol of pride, a sign that you’re moving away from childhood and adolescence and steadily marching towards adulthood”
When I was growing up, moving toward 18, for boys meant the military draft was looming. You had to grow up, no choice.
Today, some boys are in an igloo. I fear it has a lot to do with single mother parenting. No impetus on leaving the nest. Ironically, I don’t see that with young women as much.
Taking the cars for oil change? Part of me learning to drive was learning basic maintenance. We crawled under the car. That was the deal.
So you have "reality" on your phone and on the internet? The next time you get hungry, try eating an image of a steak on your phone, and let me know how that works out for you. Just like all the 20-somethings who have virtual AI "girlfriends" rather than making an effort to find the real thing, or prefer playing computer game simulations of sports and outdoor activities rather than developing the skills necessary to engage in the real thing.
LOL!
I "get" the difference between reality and the internet. I have experienced both.
ou’re TELLING me you don’t understand it.
WRONG. I'm telling you, again, that I UNDERSTAND the difference between looking at pictures of places or watching videos of people doing things and abually being there and doing it.
You're claiming that the difference doesn't exist. That is simply WRONG.
With my phone I can have a steak delivered. Girlfriends are definitely better in person. Sports in person are nice, of course the inevitable injuries aren’t, and get less fun as you get older and find out all injuries are actually permanent.
There are pluses and minuses to everything. But if you know where to go on the internet it’s got a lot of pluses.
Thank you for introducing solipsism to the discussion.
Have a nice day.
No. You’re telling me you don’t get it. We can tell because you’ve dropped down to 100% personal attack. You have yet to even try to engage with the facts I put out. So we both know you’re wrong. And there’s no reason to continue. See ya.
I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.
Put down your phone, step away from the computer, go outside and experience the real world.
If you’re physically disabled and cannot do those things ...
I’d say that’s very unfortunate, but it also puts you at a serious disadvantage with regard to meaningfully contributing to this discussion.
We old folks got to learn to ‘drive’ horses by age 4 and Grandad’s pickup on ranches and empty country roads by 10. When I hit the “city” streets at 15 with a “learner permit” there was little traffic. Within weeks I had learned how to “burn rubber” and drift corners.
It was a great time of life! Cars and girls! We stored our bikes at 15, if you couldn’t drive you walked because bikes were for kids.
Where is Dad?
For some stupid reason Democrats think
a Mom can raise kids, she just needs Dads
money.
A father just contributes sperm and his
money, otherwise he is un-necessary.
Wrong!
Look at our fatherless part of society.
They are mostly useless, introverted,
non contributors.
One Sunday quick before church cutting hay with the John Deere 4320, with 4 very large wheels round and round the field until I came to the center and forgot to turn wider, the haybine started to climb on the tires. I slammed on the brakes—two pedals for left and right. It all happened in a second. I was very short., off the seat, trying to push the brakes all the way down and slipped off one pedal and in my effort struck the throttle and the tractor lurched. I was fortunate my boot slipped off the correct wheel. the tractor spun around away from the haybine with hydraulic hoses flying in the air hitting the roll bar. A minute later, hardly a sound, the smell of cut hay all around, and the arc of tractor tire tracks a foot deep into the soil.
I was 12.
Playing devil’s advocate here, maybe Dad is out working a job that pays for all of the schools and activities? If she’s working, it’s got to be part-time at best.
I agree that she is putting fear into her son.
“Thank you for introducing solipsism to the discussion.”
Solipsism? Not at all. Reality.
I forget who said that the best refutation of solipsism is to throw a large rock directly at the solipsist’s face. If he ducks, he has abandoned his belief.
Drew68 wrote: “But the article isn’t wrong and I’m seeing this far more frequently in the military, with young people arriving to their first duty station without a drivers license. They’ve never driven a car before. And because of this, they are unable to stand duty driver watches.”
In Korea in the seventies, many of the soldiers in my unit kept failing the international drivers license required there. They didn’t want drive off post.
We solved that problem: Present your international drivers license or no off post pass. Every one in the unit passed the test within two weeks.
“We crawled under the car. That was the deal.”
I hated crawling under the car with the grease gun the most.
Yuck!
Illinois raised the age for senior citizens to retake the driver’s test because they caused the least problems. It’s the younger people causing the accidents more than senior citizens.
Good one. Grandpa had “Big Red” probably just like the one you mention. Then he added one of those little gray Ford tractors. That thing felt like it was doing about 40mph across the fields with my ass bouncing a foot above the seat. I’d ride out to a little rise about 3:30PM and 600 cows would see me and start walking/trotting to the milking barn. Great memories.
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