Parents put the brakes on children riding their bikes to school

[akashra]

Read this and started a separate conversation, but figured it might be worth inciting some discussion here:
Maybe this is where we should be tackling the problem of participation: http://www.theage.com.au/national/e...s-to-school-20120320-1vi0f.html#ixzz1phUuc0FW
This to me just screams opportunity (for mountain biking as a sport).

It comes as no surprise though. You drive past any school at 3:30 in the afternoon, and there's cars eeeeeverywhere. It's crazy! I always find myself thinking "can't these kids walk home!?" WTF changed since I was in school? Even parents just walking to school to meet up with their kids.
For me, the biggest concern was my bike getting stolen.
At these kind of ages, they're buying mountain bikes, not road bikes - we just have to encourage them to then use them for more than just riding to school.

On a related note, I've been wearing in some nice singletrack between my house and the high school I went to on my cross bike lately, rather than using the adjacent bike path... I probably should start by encouraging those schoolkids to use it

 

[John U]

I always find myself thinking "can't these kids walk home!?" WTF changed since I was in school? Even parents just walking to school to meet up with their kids.

Kennet closed a large number of schools meaning schools were no longer as close or as safe to get to from home as back in the old days. This also removed a large amount of open space from the burbs but that's another issue.

I would love for my kids to ride to school. I was able to do it, and did do it, from the day I started preps. I had 2 older siblings to help me find my feet at the start but was on my own from early on. The school wasn't really close to home but I grew up in a country town. Not sure if that makes any difference.

Seeing the difference in the amount of traffic in Melbourne between 7.30 and 9.00am when comparing when school is on and in school holidays makes me wonder why the fuck it is necessary to have all this congestion. No one really benefits from it.

There are a number of issues causing this. I point to people watching A Current Affair and Today Tonight as being a major contributing factor, and Jeff closing schools as another.

 

[akashra]

bahaha, some of the comments there are brilliant too:

I can (sort of) understand the "not riding" thing several have commented on here, inre: hoons, poor driving, etc.but not _walking_?
Really? _Really?_
I guess drivers are so bad where you live that they're mounting gutters and driving along the footpath...?

 

[Anarchist]

I see my kids riding to school as a convenient way of transporting them. Sure, some parents can't do the drop off on the way to work and all that - it takes time and I'm lucky to be able to do that. My son rides a heavy 16" BMX 2km uphill most days to school and he's in grade 1. Of course, we take the singletrack through the parks on the way home . Lately he's been very adventurous is taking "the long way home". Better than playing Wii for hours! What fucks me off is the bullshit scaremongering that surrounds getting kids to school and back. Teach them how to behave in traffic and help them understand how to behave safely and they'll be OK (for the future too!). Our primary school has a system that rewards the kids who walk or ride to school (and the parents too!)

Hoons? Most bogans are still in bed! FFS at 8:30 am it takes less time for a 6 year old to ride than drive to school (they can't drive well yet ). Childhood obesity epidemic, anyone?

BTW, Friday is ride to school day! Get on it.

 

[Adam_NA]

Do people not realise that its easy to get where you're going via backstreets instead of having to take the most direct route along a main road?

I don't think I got a single ride to school after year 3, walking then riding

 

[knob scortcher]

im in grade 11 and i ride to school all the time id rather take my bike than to go in a car to school and there's also a nice dirt trail along the river on the way home. i even beat the buses home and i live 4km away from school so that's kind like my afternoon training on the way home.

 

[rstwosix]

Parents are overprotective. Scared to let their kids out of their sight - which (as someone has already pointed out) is probably a result of watching sensationalist tabloid news. Australia is becoming a nation of spoiled, overprotected, over indulged, over weight dummies

 

[steve24]

Do people not realise that its easy to get where you're going via backstreets instead of having to take the most direct route along a main road?

Not always, you know where i live and we have no options as the only backstreet has an opposing oneway sections in the middle that prevents it being used both to and from (legally).....

My 6 yr old still rides 1-2 days a week but crossing 4 lanes of morning traffic can be stressfull.

She crashed into the back of my bike a few days ago and took some skin off. The next day she said Dad i was just trying to ride straight, to which i replied - you did, straight into me. She didn't stop laughing about that till we got to school....

 

[Shredden]

Now I am tempted to go buy a roadie and smash out the 30 kms to school every day.

 

[flamin'trek]

Busy main roads aren't the only problem.

Suggested to my wife that I take my 6yo son to school on the tag-a-long one morning. Told it's not a good idea due to traffic. I'm thinking its all back streets, but after looking at the traffic in the back streets close to the school (and passing another) I agree with her. There aren't enough footpaths on the way either. Too many parents rushing to the school in the narrow streets means there's just not enough room for cycling with a minor - Alternate routes all similar

When it's time for high school it'll be an easy walk/bike ride, and safe - unless we move.

 

[HIFI2009]

Yes, we can be overprotective as parents. I still dream that our kids can be like we were as kids - we got to school on our own, whether it be walk, bike or public transport. When I was at high school, only one kid got dropped off regularly and we bagged him mercilessly. I think it teaches kids to be independent if they can get their own way to school. My son begged for us to let him ride to school each day. We decided that, if we was old enough to walk on his own, in that we trusted that he could "manage" traffic, we would let him ride. This was probably Grade 4.

End result: He has done the Great Victorian Bike Ride twice, Golden Triangle, Wombat, Avoca and the Odyssey. For him, bike = freedom and independence.

 

[Norco Maniac]

i was lucky enough to grow up in outer suburbs where there were quiet streets to walk to school on. i actually can't remember there being a bus to school offered before i was in high school....my own kids weren't so lucky, we still lived in a small village - our school had less than 100 kids - but the council in it's infinite wisdom had declined to put footpaths between one side of the village to the next on a road that was busily used by log trucks, so my children either caught the bus or i drove them.

there's also a lot of parents who both work to maintain a family's budget these days so driving the kids to school may well be their only option.

i do agree tho we are fostering a nation of children who go unchallenged physically, a much of which has to do with litigation following playground accidents, years of the populace being advised to stay out of the sun by various well-meaning health care providers, and yes, time-poor parents.

i don't have any easy solutions to offer, tho it would of course be great to see more bike paths along school routes.

 

[Anarchist]

If we, as parents, teach our kids to take some responsibility for themselves by getting to school, on-time, safely and enjoyably then maybe, just maybe, we will empower them to be responsible, independent little humans. Perhaps to the betterment of society - ok that's going too far.

If we indoctrinate the thought of it's dangerous (which it can be - but MTBing is a risky pastime too) or there is not enough time (true as well, but getting up earlier might work too if you/they can) or some other such fearful nonsense then we have ourselves to blame for overprotected blobs who are incapable of responsible independent action. We are in a big enough mess as it is with people not taking responsibility for themselves.

My point is that it starts off with small things and good habits are easier to learn when you're young. Sensationalist trash spewed from various media outlets only sells their advertising and their brand of newspaper. If you buy into it then the damage is done. Hopping off the soapbox now. Have a nice day.

Ride to school day tomorrow (in Victoria anyway!) http://www.bv.com.au/general/ride2school/

 

[ChopSticks]

Was never in a position to "ride to school"

Fitness, wrapped in cotton wool, obesity, road safety etc etc aside

No one has seemed to bring up the fact the world has changed, don't get me wrong but I'm sure there were creepy old men in black panel vans abducting lil boys and girls back in the day.....but it's much common place nowadays you hear it on the news and it's much widely known occurrence.


.......bring on the flame

 

[akashra]

Stats show it's far less common. Child abductions and reported similar incidents are way down.

What seems to have disappeared off the face the planet is the concept of neighborhood watch and safety houses which were drilled in to us as kids.
The other problem is that every second parent thinks it's unsafe for their kid to walk/ride to school because of parents who can't drive, so they drop their kid off. And add another car to the road. And the cycle repeats...

 

[John U]

Beaten to it by akashra.

 

[Anarchist]

Was never in a position to "ride to school"

Not everyone is. Imagine if those who could, did. That would be a good start.