Terry

What great ideas you have shared. I know that I did not allow my son to get a drivers license until he was 18, I just did not feel that he was ready before that. Some families I know have also allowed their son/daughter to get a license, however, they limited the driving to only in emergencies and never allowed other teens in the car for the first 6months to one year of driving. You need to be aware of your own child, rather than giving in because "everyone else is doing it."

I also like the reference to power tools. Even my husband rushes in and then we all need to hear him when he rushed in too fast and ruined something. Taking your time reallly pays off in the end.

You also talked about having young children talk themselves through walking across the street. How about going one step further and making up a poem they can recite to help them remember. Maybe something like

I am walking across the street

My friend I will meet

Let's look right

Keep all cars in sight

Left we will look

Just like in the book

(Okay, so poetry is not my strong point, but you get the idea. You can make up rhymes for just about everything, it might help you, I know I have done so with helping my kids study for tests)

Thanks again, these are suggestions that all families should be implementing.

Eileen

Eileen