Your involvement is key to your teen’s success behind the wheel. Fortunately, we’ve put together a resource to make it easy for you to commit to your teen’s driving education. It’s called the New Driver Deal, a parent-teen agreement designed to help parents set rules and expectations for their new drivers. Here’s how you can use it to keep your teen safe.
Complete the Deal
Filling out the New Driver Deal gives you a chance to talk through some of the biggest risks your new driver will face and set rules around how you both should behave as your teen learns to drive. This tool is customizable and can be changed over time when you want to grant your teen more – or fewer – driving privileges. It can also take some of the pressure off you to be the ‘bad guy’ when it comes to enforcing these rules, since both of you will agree to them. If your teen eventually wants to break curfew, for example, and drive home after midnight with several friends, you can refer back to the agreement you both made.
Simple Steps
Though the New Driver Deal covers a lot of ground, it’s easy to implement. In one conversation with your teen, you can set it up, sign it and hang it somewhere visible in your home. This way, you can both see the rules each day and keep them in mind when on the road together. The better example you set, the safer your teen will be when he or she eventually drives.
Talk: A key part of the deal is your commitment to practicing with your teen and regularly talking about roadway risks. Just 30 minutes a week can make a big difference in your teen driver’s safety. Once you’ve filled out your New Driver Deal together, brainstorm some ideas for how you can stick to it, and write them down for future reference. Have your teen jot down some ideas on what they’d like to practice in the future, as well.
