Teaching a Teenager how to drive

I actually believed I would not have this opportunity in life.  How wrong was I? 

The oldest has typically strong desires to learn to drive a car.  Unlike myself, her motivating factor appears to be solely the independence that an automobile delivers.  When I was her age, I just liked the idea of piloting a machine, any machine.  Car, boat, lawn mower, it didn't matter as long as I got to put it through its paces.

I heard early on how her paternal grandfather offered to let her drive (and prior to doing so legally - who hasn't done that?).  I guess he had her in tears within five minutes.  I hereby strive to never be the cause of that.

My early lessons with the teenager have been gently corrective in nature.  I just look at the one thing she is most struggling with, and suggest how it could be done easier.  That was, until I watched her run the car in reverse.  Now I know how I hit that tree in my parents old driveway three or four times before we moved.  Why did I believe it fine to look forward while traveling in reverse?  So, I have to remind her each time to look over her shoulder has she eases the car back.  We'll get there.

One thing that seemed to help her greatly was to look where she wanted to go.  It just seemed to me she focused on a spot in the road about twenty feet ahead, even in the turns. 

There was a time I thought I would be able to teach her how to drive with a standard transmission, since we have one in our family.  One evening while I was driving, I suggested she put her telephone down for a moment in order to watch me shift.  I then proceeded to run through the gears as we left an intersection.  She then asked "so, you press that thing with your foot before you move this thing?".  Well, yes, I replied.  She said okay, and went back to her telephone.

As I said before, her motivating factors don't match mine from 35 years ago.  But we'll get there.