Driving lessons.

I've been working at giving my niece driving lessons. She is taking some through a professional company, but they don't provide nearly enough wheel time. Her mom's boyfriend says he doesn't have the patience. (I give him all the credit in the world for being able to admit that.) My mom says that she is too nervous. That kind of leaves it to me or my dad, and Dad doesn't get out very much, by choice.

It's a little harder teaching to drive in the winter. Conditions change without warning. It's been interesting watching her adapt to compressed snow, slush and the occasional patch of ice. She has improved immensely. Her steering is much more confident, her braking smoother.

The hard part is reversing and parallel parking. Now, I'm not the best parallel parker in the world, but I really think she needs to practice at it. I've had to get creative in thinking of ways to help her out.

Fortunately, there is an empty parking lot handy here in town. The attractions is seasonal, but they keep the lot clear. I am using a curb to help my niece practice reversing to the right. She's not bad at reversing to the left. This same curb has given me an idea to help with parallel parking. What I'll do is get a plastic lawn chair to use as a pylon. I'll give her lots of space to start out with and slowly reduce the space.

It is interesting teaching somebody to drive. I'd rather have left it in the hands of professionals, but I guess this is the reality of learning to drive these days.