The moment your kid becomes almost your equal

Gordie Jackson
3 min readAug 3, 2017

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Cee’s first lesson in 2004, Legoland, Windsor

It is a funny thing that writing daily seems occasionally to develop themes. I was writing yesterday about my car and I am again tonight. Cee, my 17-year-old, passed her driving test. I know in the US 16-year-olds can drive though in the UK the earliest you can drive a car is 17. I didn’t pass my test until I was 23. That in part was due to a lack of money to take lessons.

I am really proud of her as it shows her determination to go after what she seeks and her ability to quickly learn. A few days ago I was concerned she may be overconfident though maybe it was me being uncomfortable with one so young being so confident. It took me about 40 lessons and one failed test before I succeeded. Half way through learning I changed instructors as I lost confidence in the first one or maybe I lost confidence in myself and needed to believe it was the instructor.

The second instructor had just set business and I was his first student to sit the test. He was unfamiliar with the process and forgot a key document which meant I couldn’t sit the test. The poor man was in such a state that I reassured him it was okay. We rebooked and I passed. It was a matter of days before I moved to England.

The featured photo reminds me that Cee as a 4-year-old wanted to drive and got her first licence at Legoland. At some stage I allowed her to sit with me and steer the car in a supermarket car park. She never forgot that and persisted to ask me over the years to let her drive. I refused until about a month ago when she got insurance and we returned to the car park. In a month I have seen her take amazing strides. She has had lessons with an instructor weekly for almost 4 months which obviously taught her what she needed to know.

I too remember being allowed to steer a car when I was 4. My parents had gone on ‘A sun holiday’ and left me with some relatives who lived in the country. The man of the house owned a few fields and occasionally would take us kids in an old car and let us steer the car while he drove. It was that memory that caused me to reenact the same gesture with Cee years later.

A driving test is like no other exam in that you do the test, your performance is judged and you get the result immediately at the end of the test. You have either passed or failed.

For a seventeen-year-old gaining a driving licence is a rite of passage, a statement towards their independence. For parents, it is a proud moment and with it the realisation that the days of Legoland have most definitely gone.

g.

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Gordie Jackson

Speaks with a Northern Irish accent, lives in Hertfordshire, England.