parenting and driving

It dawned on me that I've now tried twice to take my written driving test here in Spain, and miserably failed both times. In fact, what I thought was an improvement, the second test proved to result in more errors than the first one. Don't get me wrong, I've been driving since I was 16, but for some strange reason, Spain no longer acknowledges the validity of an US driver's license. It used to, I guess I missed that window of opportunity when I chose to swim across the pond. Anyway, today I realized that I am legally, in every way, able to bring a life into this world and shape it and mold it however I choose to, without having any official or expert certifiy or even check my (lack of) abilities to do so. I don't know anything about parenting, I am a lousy pet owner, I don't keep my house very clean, nor do I cook very well. I know love is an important and vital ingredient to parenting, and I'm hoping someone thinks I have some of it, but still, really?? they won't give me a license but they will let me have full control over a living being who is completely innocent and vulnerable?

Every parent starts off with the best of intentions. After all, imagine the high, and the responsibility that every momentary action you choose to take has lasting, and very often, irrevocable consequences: calling the doctor when the fever was already too high may cause brain damage, an occasional explosion of temper may imprint not only physical scars, but years down the line, physical memories of the shock that the nurturer whom the child trusted, could raise a hand against the child for absolutely no plausible reason except maybe being human. Yet, by the time we become adults, so many of us seek therapy to try to understand why our parents did what they did, and how we may HEAL ourselves from the process of growing up and maturing. What went wrong? They loved us, they are our parents. No parents will intentionally hurt their most cherished one, but some of our children will eventually talk to a stranger (expert) about all the terrible deeds we may have committed, either unconsciously or otherwise.

Again, I ask, they won't give me a license, but they will leave me alone with a baby?

It doesn't make any sense to me, but then, very few things do. Meanwhile, I continue to read about parenting and hope that at least some of it, will seep into my brain and become useful resources when baby #1 does something I don't know how to deal with. Come to think of it, I read a lot about traffic rules in Spain, too, but they haven't helped me in any way to pass my exam, twice.

Good faith, is what I have to go on...