[Robert A Cook PE]

We started Jean (and Tom and Russel as well) with a student permit as soon as they were eligible at age 15..... Started them with training seesions (hours of parallel parking, backing and turning, pulling in and out of different spaces, etc. in an empty parking lot.)

.... But then THEY drove EVERYWHERE EVERYTIME that they were in the car for the next year.

I figure that after a year of constant driving everytime the family went anywhere they had between 10,000 and 15,000 miles "training time" - particularly since Ronnie and Jean went back and forth to the same school each day.

[xsmommy]

i see the wisdom of your approach robt, but recall that i am older than you were at that time and my patience is more worn....

i know it will surprise you all but it turns out that PMS came over me today and besides wanting to murder all of the idiotic UN ambassadors that sounded off today, and all people on the road in my path on my rounds this afternoon, it is possible that i would turn to family members....

[VRWCmember]

.... But then THEY drove EVERYWHERE EVERYTIME that they were in the car for the next year.

He thinks he should drive everytime he's in the car too, but there are lots of times -- going to very unfamiliar territory or on busy congested highway with lots of road construction or in bad driving weather -- that I wasn't about to let him drive. The situation called for a driver with years -- not weeks or months -- of driving experience.