Dear A wants to get her driver’s license. In fact, she’s learning to drive in Manila, during her vacation.I’m torn, as you can imagine, between the Pros: how nice it would be to have a nanny who drives, how great an accomplishment it is for Dear A, and the Cons: panic of worrying everyone’s personal safety, car accidents and costs.
Because we live in the inner city, having a nanny who drives isn’t as big a priority. Dear A and K are able to walk or take transit to parks, play dates, or the library without too much trouble. In fact, for K, the bus and train are as much fun as the end location. So, of course, the Cons are the ones filling my head:
Its not helping that it took Dear A four tries to pass her learner’s exam. And, that she’s kicking off her driver training in Manila. While part of me thinks that if driving in Manila anything like driving in Calcutta (the craziest driving I’ve ever seen) she’ll be well equipped to drive in Calgary. The mom part of me isn’t very keen on seeing this in practice.
When I get past the stress of it, I can imagine a time when Dear A’s driving could take some pressure of my schedule. So, I don’t want to deter her completely.
I’m left wondering: If Dear A driving isn’t a big priority for me how much do I have to support this? Do we offer to teach her to drive? Do we offer to pay for lessons where we’re comfortable with the provider? Do I lend her my car? Ahh… makes my head hurt.
She gets back tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted on my mental state and her driving aptitude.
2 comments:
We live in the suburbs and kindergarten is looming next Sept for my eldest. A driving nanny is almost a must - either that or suffer the chaos and guilt of arranging neighbor stay-at-home moms to help the working mom like I did for her preschool this year. We encouraged her to get her learners (which she passed first try) and paid for the gold AMA drivers safety course. We take her out driving. We are hoping after a full year, she will be ready to drive our children within the neighborhood to school. I don't want her driving outside the neighborhood, but to/from school would be so nice.
My thought was that I would prefer her to learn how to drive through proper courses and through us then do it on her own. At least this way I have some sense of control. I just didn't want her to get it on her own and then one day I'm in a bind and ask her to drive. If that should happen, I would have no confidence since I wasn't there along way to gauge her driving ability.
My question - is an AMA safety course for your nanny tax deductible? lol
And insurance too! LOL Miss Su!
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