It\u2019s challenging to raise children in a society whose ethos is at odds with your own moral code. The Amish must shield their offspring from the corrupting influence of abominations such as selfies and Velcro. Vegan parents quickly change the channel whenever a McDonalds\u2019 commercial comes on the TV. (Just kidding, vegans don\u2019t own TVs.) And fans of perennial underdog sports teams imbue their children with the false hope that they will one day get to celebrate an important victory, despite overwhelming evidence that this will never happen because their team sucks.<\/p>\n
While you may not immediately identify with any of the groups mentioned above, if you\u2019re a cyclist and a parent you\u2019ve got more in common with them than you realize. After all, you too lead a lifestyle that the average person probably thinks is crazy. Therefore, you too must figure out how to pass your own values onto your child while simultaneously equipping them to operate in a culture that is often hostile to those values.<\/p>\n
So how do you teach your child to have a positive relationship with cycling in a country that hates bikes?<\/p>\n
When it comes to being an on-the-bike role model, lots of well-meaning people will tell you to wear a helmet at all times when you ride your bike so that your kids will too. I disagree. If anything, you owe it to your child to let them see you riding a bike like a normal person every once in awhile. \u00a0<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a \u201cserious\u201d cyclist<\/a>, odds are your child has seen you clomping around in your cycling shoes while encased in foam and Lycra plenty of times. Why not at least temper this horrific image by occasionally hopping on a bike while wearing flip-flops and letting the wind blow through your hair? Strapping on a helmet every time you get near a bike is like putting on one of those padded suits every time you approach the family dog: a great idea if your goal is to scare your kid shitless, but most of the time it\u2019s simply not necessary.<\/p>\n Hey, if you\u2019re really worried about them seeing you doing something dangerous, then make sure you never let them see you drive. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Many religions operate their own schools, which allows pious parents to protect their children from zany ideas such as \u201cevolution.\u201d Unfortunately, there is no equivalent for cyclists, and while you can always home-school your child, this will seriously cut into your riding time. Therefore it\u2019s up to you to regularly sift through the kitty litter box that is your child\u2019s brain and scoop out the clumps of misinformation. \u00a0<\/p>\n If would be nice if you could sit back and trust your kid\u2019s teachers until at least middle school, but in a car-centric society the brainwashing begins almost immediately. For example, somehow the \u201cvehicles\u201d portion of the preschool curriculum, while heavy on big trucks and choo-choos, never seems to include bicycles. Also, thanks Richard Scarry\u2019s Busytown<\/em> books, by age three your child will be conditioned to think that a cityscape dominated by reckless motorists is not only normal but delightfully whimsical.<\/p>\n So while it may be a bit early for them to understand that Officer Flossy vainly trying to stop the scofflaws on her bicycle is a tragic metaphor for the futility of traffic enforcement in a post-automotive hellscape, using a bike instead of a car<\/a> to get to school once in awhile helps plant the seed that getting around doesn\u2019t have to be a complete shitshow.<\/p>\n If you ride a bike, chances are you\u2019ve gone down the rabbit hole of obsessing over equipment. In fact, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019re in there at this very moment, wondering if it\u2019s worth it to upgrade to the ceramic bearings. Of course, it\u2019s never worth it to upgrade to the ceramic bearings (they\u2019re the extended warranty of cycling components), but you\u2019re going to do it anyway\u2014which is fine, but there\u2019s no need to apply this same anal-retentiveness to setting up your kid\u2019s bike.<\/p>\n People will tell you it\u2019s crucial to start your kid out on good cycling equipment, otherwise they might get discouraged. And sure, you can buy them a $900 balance bike<\/a>, but why? Because it\u2019s a bargain compared to the $2,000 balance bike<\/a>? Come on.<\/p>\n Youth is wasted on the young and so is money. Kids don\u2019t know quality, which is why all they\u2019ll eat is hamburgers and chicken nuggets. Pick a bike, any bike. Do the wheels spin freely? Does it have functioning brakes? If so, the kid\u2019ll be fine. If they\u2019re a cycling prodigy you\u2019ll know it right away, regardless of whether they\u2019re riding a Pinarello from Treviso or a pink Huffy from Target.<\/p>\n Of course, you should buy from your local bike shop if at all possible, but besides that don\u2019t even think of getting them anything seriously nice until either they\u2019ve stopped growing or they\u2019ve acquired enough sophistication to appreciate sushi, whichever comes first.<\/p>\n We all love cycling, and we all love our children, so for the most part riding together means basking in the glow of filial pedaling. Invariably however a dark cloud will arrive in the form of a driver who does something selfish or stupid. And while what you should be doing is rummaging through your Suitcase of Courage for some restraint, you\u2019ll be far more tempted to plunge your fist into your Satchel of Invective and grab the filthiest insult you can find.<\/p>\n This is the hardest part of being a cycling parent. Bad driving is exponentially more infuriating when you\u2019re with your child, and yet being a parent requires utilizing only the best parts of your character. It\u2019s like you\u2019re a web browser in safe search mode, and drivers keep typing pornographic search terms into you.<\/p>\n As someone who\u2019s switched the safe search toggle to \u201coff\u201d more times than I\u2019d like to admit, all I\u2019ll say is it\u2019s never worth it to let loose on a driver. Instead, take the opportunity to teach your kid what the driver did wrong. That way they can expect it when they start riding themselves, or at the very least not pull the same crap when they get behind the wheel one day.<\/p>\n Also, you\u2019ll spare them some foul language\u2014though they\u2019ve probably heard that from the back seat of the car anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you\u2019re a cyclist and parent, you must figure out how to pass your own values onto your child while simultaneously equipping them to operate in a culture that is often hostile to those values.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":2389886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"uuid":"91f4bb4c21eff79b51a45ba5f713e63f","footnotes":""},"categories":[2577],"tags":[2787,2849,2780,2637,3129],"byline":[1915],"ad_cat":[],"legacy-category":[],"class_list":["post-2467231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-bikes","tag-evergreen","tag-kids","tag-sports","tag-tv","cluster-bike-snob","byline-eben-weiss"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"How to Be a Good Cycling Role Model for Your Kids","url":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/culture\/opinion\/how-be-good-cycling-role-model-your-kids\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/culture\/opinion\/how-be-good-cycling-role-model-your-kids\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/07\/cycling-role-model-kids_h.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/07\/cycling-role-model-kids_h.jpg"},"articleSection":"Opinion","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"anavas"}],"creator":["anavas"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online","logo":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/favicon-194x194-1.png"},"keywords":["bikes","evergreen","kids","sports","tv"],"dateCreated":"2019-02-07T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2019-02-07T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2022-05-12T19:04:21Z"},"rendered":"Audit Their Education<\/h2>\n
Don\u2019t Overthink It<\/h2>\n
Comport Yourself with Dignity<\/h2>\n