i have been skating for last 5 years and absolutely love it and have basically grown used to early mornings, bruises and the total joy at doing new elements but today i just found out that my driving lesssons will cost like $1000 and my parents are saying that i will proobably not do any spring skating or only like 1 day which doesnt even do anything since i do dance as well a freeskate. they don't seem to understand how important skating is in my life. when i suggest that i will pary for some of the ice fees they completly blow up at me saying that they plan a budget and i will have no say in it. i feel so powerless i need some help figuring out what i should do if any one has suggestions they would be greatfully accepted. p.s i have had to try and have adult conversations with them but i get so flustered and overwhelmed its pointless. thanks a million.

Ouch! A thousand is a lot for driving lessons. Isn't there some student driver's ed course that you can take instead? That's what my daughter did, and even in NYC it was only $350.

__________________

If skating is more important to you than anything else in the whole world, then wait til you turn 18 to drive- then you don't have to have driver's ed classes to pass your license test, and you can have a parent or friend teach you how to drive. In my experience, driver's ed courses are 95 percent watching cheesy movies about drunk driving, and 5 percent driving- and usually in a s***** car with a horrible teacher.

I sacrifice a LOT for skating. I would sacrifice my license for it if I had to, and take the bus everyday. It's just a choice you make- and there will be others. Decide what is most important.

i don't think that's true everywhere though. i'm pretty sure when i got my liscense, i still needed to take drving classes. and i got my liscense when i was 19. i think because now in nyc, if you have a permit, you're not allowed to drive a car without a brake on the other side for the instructor. if i had taken drivers ed in hs, i would have paid a lot less and gotten my liscense earlier, but i was doing the musicals, and didn't have time.

actually, i think new jersey might also require a certain amount of hours with an instructor. my friend lives there and she had to take however many number of hours with an instructor, and he signed a paper that she had to bring to her road test saying she successfully completed her hours. but she got her liscense when she was 17, so i'm not sure if it's just for kids still in high school, or for everybody.

and don't get mad at your parents, my parents don't like taking money from me either. now that i have a job, they don't mind quite so much, but when i was younger, they would absolutely refuse, no matter what the circumstance. even for paying rent, they would refuse to take my birthday money if we were short. i think it's the whole mind set that they're parents and should support their kids. but what if you get a job? maybe then since they know you'd have a source of income, they wouldn't mind letting you pay for ice time, since you won't just be blowing away savings.

Where on earth are you taking driving lessons that cost $1000??? Doesn't your high school have a driver's ed program? That ought to be included in your regular educational program, or perhaps have a small additional fee attached (maybe a couple hundred dollars, max).

I just know that when I took driver's ed (dark ages, I know), my church high school was too small to have driver's ed, but there was an arrangement with the neighboring public high school for our students to take it there--and I know it couldn't have possibly cost very much, or I simply couldn't have taken it--there was no money to spare in my single-parent household.

I agree with fadedstardust--if skating's that important to you, forget about getting your driver's license at 16. Wait until 18 or even longer, when driver's ed is no longer required. You may not get a break on your car insurance if you don't take driver's ed, but that's small potatoes. And if you really want, you can take a driving instruction course at any point in your life.

__________________
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

www.signingtime.com ~sign language fun for all!

Yikes! $1000 is steep, but I can see that happening as more and more schools do away with driver's ed programs. We haven't had programs through our school district in over 10 years. I know driving instruction is steep outside of the US. All of my exchange daughters have told me their classes were in the neighborhood of $1500.

Check out the rules where you live, before deciding to opt for 18. It might not change anything.

ya i know 1000 is a lot im in canada and the insurance company gives you a lower insurance payment if you take the cours eand my parents say they want me to be able to get around in the world. which is kind of strange since i take the city bus everyday. but newasy thanks for your advice

How sad for you. Couldn't agree with you less. I remember my course very clearly. It was $250, I know because I paid for it myself. My mother was pleased because it kept her insurance costs low. Our instructor, who was also my College advisor, was terrific - way to go, Mr. Fitzpatrick! He taught us the usual things, how to signal, change lanes, etc. He also taught us dead-on how to parallel park on both sides of the road. Important skill in NYC because of the one-way streets. Best part, he made the driving part more interesting: we went through drive-throughs, pulled up to florists and other stores with parking in front, learned to navigate through tight spaces, and tons of other fun things. By the way, many states and provinces REQUIRE a certain number of hours with a certified instructor IF you want to drive at an earlier age.

Yes, we watched videos because it was required by NYS law. "Blood on the Road" sort of things. It was no big deal, even the instructors made it clear that they're just to give you an idea of what can happen in a split second. Ask any parent who has lost a child in that way, and they'll tell you to sit up and pay attention. Driving involves responsibility.

Oh, and the car? I have never seen a driving school car with more than a little dent in it. Perhaps it wasn't the car that deserved the expletive you used -- sounds more like your attitude needs an adjustment.

My advice to Babeonblades is to compare prices of different driving programs. Maybe there's another alternative that hasn't been considered. Also, offer to work as a guard/assistant at the rink to earn some extra ice time. Take a lesson every other week instead of weekly. See what you can do to help out with the budget. Skating is expensive. Driver's Education is an investment.

Good luck!

__________________

Or perhaps, you were very lucky to have SUCH a good experience, and I was very unlucky to have SUCH a bad experience. You don't know my teacher, you weren't in my classes, and you didn't see the car they gave us to use, so to assume that it must have been great and that I must be the one who has a problem hints to me that you might be the one who needs the attitude adjustement- from thinking that your experience is the only one that can be correct, to accepting that different people will have different sorts of things happen to them that will change their outlook on certain things. Also, perhaps your eyesight also needs an adjustement- because I made sure I started the story with "IN MY EXPERIENCE", meaning these were just my thoughts, and my story, and that everyone else's will be vastly different. I don't, unlike you, assume there's something wrong with people who think differently from me.

I love this board but sometimes I really don't even begin to comprehend how some people can randomly warrant jumping all over someone's comment and giving them attitude when there really isn't any reason for one. Also, I really don't see how it's SAD for me to think Driver's ed is crap. Just cause I disagree with you doesn't mean you have to pity what I think. I'm a better driver than half of the people I share the roads with, and it appears I'm the last person on earth who bothers using her turn signals- and I wasn't even taught to do it in driver's ed, so as you can see, I could have saved the cash.

Finally, I suppose it truly depends what the original poster wants to do with skating, but what is a lesson every two weeks going to bring her? If it's for recreation then that's great, but if she wanted to compete, a lesson every other week won't do anything, and I was just saying she could wait to turn 18 (or save up to go to driver's ed later on) and keep skating in the meantime. And you know, considering that you and I both have elders that drove cars way before driver's ed became mandatory (and *gasp* most of them survived!!!!) I think it's safe to say that people were doing alright for themselves before driver's ed came into place, anyway. People still kill themselves and each other on the road every day, driver's ed or not. I highly doubt it makes all that much of a difference. But I AM glad that it did for you.

I'm sorry that your high cost of drivers training is going to prevent you from skating. Maybe you can work at that rink in some capacity in exchange for ice time? Skateguarding at public session, or working the desk giving out rentals? Or maybe they need assistance at learn to skate?

Others have said to wait, but not sure your parents would agree to that. I know I was so happy to not have to drive my daughter to all her activities. I wanted her to have her license ASAP.

Every state has different requirements for drivers. Here in KY you can't get a permit until age sixteen, and then can't go for your license for six months. You don't have to document hours, or even attend a driver's ed. course. So there are no mandatory requirement that you do anything but wait six months to test from your sixteenth birthday.

I taught my daughter for five months, then enrolled her in a drivers ed. class which are only offered by independant training schools. She had eight hours of classroom time watching movies and listening to the instructor......and eight hours of driving time which included taking the test.
Cost was $250.

I hope you work things out with your parents!