Originally Posted by
Sir Lunch-a-lot
I had a discussion with a teacher about this recently, and one thing that was brought up is that - in the case of immigrant families from certain parts of the world - many kids simply never learned to ride a bike. Actually, I wonder if this is starting to becoming more prevalent here in North America - kids not learning to ride bikes in the first place.
I totally understand the mindset of fear that many parents have (I myself was rather reticent about riding on certain when I recently started cycling again, and I should know better!) but I think if parents could be persuaded to ride the route themselves they would quickly find that it is not nearly so scary/dangerous as it seems from the seat of their car and then they might be less reluctant to let their kids ride.
It's true. When you are paying attention to traffic and watching out while crossing driveways, etc. things are under control. It's when you/kids are rushing and distracted that it gets riskier. You have to get your kids out of the house early so they won't be rushed, and tell them if they are late not to worry about it. Better to deal with tardies than to be rushing and get hurt.