Share the Drive: Parent Activities
The best way a parent can promote driving safety is to spend more time driving with their teen. .Experience behind the wheel helps protect teens from mistakes, bad judgment, and crashes.
Share the Drive parent materials are intended for distribution through events and networks geared to parents of teens. These activities support a crucial message: Parents are key to teens' success in learning to drive safely.
Share the Drive parent party
A Parent Party brings parents together to build a network with a goal of helping their teens drive safe using the Share the Ride strategy. Like all Share the Drive activities, this can be used year-round.
A Start Something Parent Party can be organized by a parent but can be adapted for use by educators or community organizers.
Teens know that they need to depend on their parents to learn how to drive, but they don't always make it easy for their parents to teach them. Parents working together and supporting each other will make it easier for them and their teens to be successful.
Prepare for the Parent Party:
Age Group: Parents of teens who have, or will soon have, a learner's permit
Setting: Someone's house
Number of Participants: 5 to 8 parents
Time to Prepare: 1 week
Time to Execute: 1-2 hours
Materials: 3 Ways Parents Can Help Teens
Driving Practice Log
The Whole Truth About Teen Driving
10 Things People Dont Know
www.evite.com (a free resource to send out invitations)
Cost: Refreshments at the host house.
Resources: Review all the resource materials at Drive the Message Home and know the key messages for 2008 National Teen Driver Safety Week ; Use the Web to learn the graduated drivers licensing law in your state.
Parent Party details
Hold a Share the Drive Parent Party to create a parent support network that focuses on Share the Drive principles and ideas. Use Share the Drive as an initial motivation to share skills and experience and to monitor teen driving as a parent support group.
The parent hosting the meeting will get the discussion going and follow up after the meeting. When inviting parents to the party, encourage them to read up on the issue first by visiting www.chop.edu. Before the meeting, the parent organizers should make copies of the Share the Ride materials for everyone attending.
Introduction from host (10 minutes)
Teens value their parents opinion and want help, despite what we think or what they say.
New facts about teen driving (Driving: Through the Eyes of Teens ) highlight the importance of parental involvement in the driving experience. Although alcohol is a problem, distractions are more common and a critical factor in teen crashes.
Many parents may think that because their child is a good student, does not drink or get into trouble that they are in the clear. However, the leading causes for crashes have to do with simple inexperience, distractions and speed. The lack of regular seat belt use among many teen drivers and passengers is a big killer.
Distraction does not only mean cell phones. Brainstorm other possible distractions to that apply to your community. Discussion points? What surprised you?
How can the group use the states GDL law to support their efforts to monitor and protect their children?
Making a plan (30 minutes)
Suggest a Start Something parents group, which brings parents of teens who are friends into a telephone, web, or personal meeting-based network.
Will it work?
What should we focus on?
How can we keep in touch with each other?
Hand out a commitment form, which gives the name, address, telephone and email address of parents who agree to try it out. (7 minutes)
Follow up 3 days later (15 minutes)
Contact those parents, who agreed to participate in the parent support group, three days after the meeting to see confirm first steps.
