Darth Lefty 

Today was "early minimum" for the kindergartners and so I rode with my kid to his school. This was not the cute experience you might imagine... he's been frustrating. He didn't want to go, he wanted to be driven the 1/3 mile. He's been riding for over a year but he's really timid, riding with his feet. He never seems to have his pedals set right for braking or setting off - not sure if a hand brake and freewheel would make it better or just scare him off for a while. He won't go fast enough downhill to keep himself upright. He rides on the sidewalk, which is fine, he's five, but he hugs the yards and is always running off into grass and rocks and hedges and signs, not the gutter where he would be ok. Right before he got to the school entrance he slowed down going through a gutter and then fell off the hard curb that's there to keep the dropoff queue from parking on the sidewalk. Since he's been in kindergarten I think he has hardly ridden at all. He's in school in the midday, the nanny keeps the kids inside in the afternoon, I get home after dark, weekends we are always off on a family activity.