Sixteen is such an exciting age for lots of people. It means more freedom, moving further on in high school, and the most exciting, the ability to drive, at least in most states.

Most teenagers are super excited to be able to drive and have freedom on the roads without having to depend on their parents to drive them everywhere. The problem is, lots of parents don’t want their children to drive. They sure do enjoy coming up with crazy reasons why their child shouldn’t be allowed to drive or why they don’t want them to.

My parents weren’t the most excited for me to get my license, but that was just because I already had two brothers who got theirs before me, so it was just like routine. But, I know plenty of people whose parents don’t have that excitement for their kids to be able to be free and drive themselves, and their friends, around.

One reason I have heard a couple of parents say, is that they don’t want to have to pay for the insurance for their child to drive which is understandable. Teens have the highest chance of getting in an accident in their first year of driving, but that just means that parents are still stuck driving around their kid everywhere they want and need to go. I personally think it would be a lot easier just to let them be able to take themselves where they need to go and then the parents can get other tasks that need to be done.

Another excuse I have heard was that the parents don’t want to pay to get their kid a car, so they don’t see the point in having them get a license when they won’t have anything to drive. Well, in my first six months of driving, I didn’t have my own car either. My mom and I would figure out our schedules, and more often than I expected, I would be able to take the car out on my own and go hangout with friends or get food or do whatever I needed to get done. I’m sure that there would be an easy way to figure out schedules and plans to share the car.

Some parents just don’t want to let their children “grow up”. Receiving a license is a big step in a kid’s life, and it’s usually hardest for the parents if it’s their oldest child, because they have never had to be in this situation before. All of the people I know who have had parents who have come up with reasons for them not to get their license have been the oldest in their family. Either the parents don’t want them to get their license or they want to get it more than anything else. It really just depends.

I think it’s a great idea for parents to let their kids be able to have the freedom of driving. Overall, I think it’s great to give teenagers their sense of freedom and the feeling of getting closer to adulthood, whether or not it’s sad for parents to watch it happen. I mean, it’s going to happen at some point, right?