Is Your Teen Prepared to Drive to School?

I have three daughters, two of whom received their drivers' licenses recently. As a parent you go through amazing milestones with your children. While each milestone is memorable such as taking their first steps, cutting their first tooth or riding a bike without training wheels, there is nothing quite as life changing or game changing as getting their drivers license.
This fall will be the first time my daughter plans to drive herself to school each day. Previously I setup a complex carpool with a few other parents where we spread out the driving responsibility while helping the environment at the same time. Now that my daughter has her license it is an opportunity for her to get more practical driving experience under my supervision. Here's what I'm doing to ensure she is ready:

They felt safe driving a toy jeep, but how about a real car?

Practice, practice, practice
What I've learned is that the actual driving on the road is the "easiest" part about driving. It is the more refined aspects such as parallel parking, U-turns, entering or exiting the highway and shifting lanes that take a lot of practice and become competent. So the months leading up to my daughter driving herself to school have been filled with having her drive me everywhere I go including the post office, library, grocery store while I can observe her skills. Every time she gets behind the wheel I see a marked improvement as she gets more experience. It may seem obvious but I've been surprised by how many parents expect this to happen during drivers education classes with an instructor and not from real-time experience with the parent. [Continued on Yahoo! Shine]