After a quick shopping trip to Kohl's to buy Amanda some white tennis shoes for dance, we head out to the almost empty parking lot to go home. Since the parking lot is mostly empty and Amanda has often expressed her desire to 'practice' driving 'where she can't hurt any body', I told her she could drive here for a little while.
She protests loudly that she doesn't want to, it's too dark and too dangerous right now, but begrudgingly heads to the drivers side. I have been sitting in the car for a minute or so listening to her complain, when I ask her to hurry up and at least start the car so we can have some air conditioning while she painstakingly adjusts the seat, looks at everything, and complains how much she hates the Camry. My requests fall on apparently deaf ears as she continues to find that exact distance between her and the steering wheel and brake pedals with the seat mechanism. I finally order her to START the CAR before I die of heat exhaustion!!!!
She exclaims, "Well how can I do THAT before I am ready?" I say, "Keeping your right foot on the brake, your right foot, your RIGHT foot!!! (She says, "Where's the break, I can't see it." -- I say, "It's in the same place it always is in every car, just put your foot where it usually is." )"Now put the key in the ignition and turn it until the car starts. As long as your foot is on the brake and the car is in park AND the emergency brake is on, believe me, the car isn't going anywhere until you are ready." She says, "Oh, okay, well I didn't know!" (This isn't Herbie the Love Bug or Chitty Bang Bang, we make our cars move here, I think but don't say.)
So, I carefully explain to her how to back out when you are parked next to other cars, so as not to hit them as you back up. First decide which direction you want to go. Then check to make sure no one else is moving behind you. Now back up straight at first, then slowly turn the wheel to keep you safely away from the car next to you. She says, "But what if I am going to hit the car next to me?" I say, "Use the brake, you can always STOP." She says, "Oh, I'm just not very good at that." and start's going in reverse. I talk her through it, she does well.
We agree to begin by parking in an empty row and try to keep it between the lines. We try it about 4 separate times, but she always turns in too early and stops on top of the left line. She doesn't have a real problem with this, but I explain to her that if there were other cars there, she would need to stay between her lines, so I say lets go park next to that truck, you'll be on the right side of him. She panics, but I assure her she can do it. She pulls up wide, I say start your turn and she pulls in beautifully. Now I say, okay, now you have to back up, what will you do. She looks out her left window (completely blocked by the monster black truck) and says, "Auughh!" Then quickly goes inside her left brain, reads the manual, and says, "Slowly back up straight so other cars can see you are backing and stop for you." Good job Amanda. Okay go ahead. She slowly backs nice and straight till we are sure she is clear of any other possible drivers. I say, "okay, you are clear"and she begins turning the wheel to the right, bringing the front of the Camry closer to the truck. I quickly say, "STOP, put your right foot on the brake and straighten the wheel, your turning the wrong way." She looks up and sees how much closer she is to the truck and says, "oh my God". I remind her that you turn the wheel in the direction you want the back of the car to go, and since there is no one on the right of us, it doesn't matter if you cross that line. (she thought if you turned the wheel toward the truck you might hit it.)
Now we are going to just drive through the parking lot and a busy restaurant area. Suddenly a car is coming toward her so she heads off to the right towards a parked car, I grab the wheel and straighten her out, reminding her that there is plenty of room on her left for them to pass.
We go up to a stop sign where you must turn right and they have placed a triangular curb in front of you to force the right turn. She stops 15 short of the intersection and says, "Now what do I do?" I said, "Well, you turn right like all the signs say you have to." She says, "What, where, I can't fit through there, it's like 2 foot wide!" I assure her that there is ample space for her turn and to pull up so she can see the angle. She makes the turn easily, almost "magically", I am sure she thinks. We are now driving in the right lane of a 4-lane divided road and soon approaching a traffic signal where we need to turn left to go home. So I say, " Up ahead is a light, when we get there we need to be in the left lane." She signals and moves left quickly. I say, "Amanda, did you check to make sure no cars were in that lane?" She quickly says, "Nope, I can't do that many things." I say, "Well you HAVE to check your mirrors or you might hit someone." I tell her to pull up to the light and we will change drivers. We switch drivers and begin discussing how to check mirrors and shoulder checks WHILE driving. -- Lesson over for tonight.--30 minutes, Mom.
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