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Archive | Bikes and cycling
Enough with the Smashed Watermelons! Helmet Mania Is Scaring Kids Away from Biking
. When I spoke at the Velo-City Conference in Austria a few years back, the speaker before me declared that helmet laws are so cumbersome and they make biking seem so scary that instead of keeping kids safe, they’re simply keeping kids from biking. Well that shocked me. I’ve always loved helmets and insisted upon […]
Follow-Up to the “No Children Can Walk Home” Story from Magnolia, TX
. Fox 26 Reporter Andrea Watkins wrote what I consider a masterful letter to the school district that has forbidden parents from coming onto school property to pick up their children and walk them home. (It does seem to allow them to wait until all the car and bus children have left — a lengthy […]
What Happened When I Asked My Kids to Bike to School
. Michelle Millet lives in Davis, CA with her husband, two kids and…some bikes: Riding to School All On Their Own by Michelle Millet In August, with my daughter entering sixth grade and my son entering third, I decided this would be the year my kids started to make the 2-mile bike ride from our […]
Daycare Says They Will Report Me for Getting My Kid to School on My Bike
. What is most pernicious about our judgmental society is illustrated below. Just because you — or I — might not choose to transport our child to school the same way as this mom, that does not make her a menace. And disagreements should remain disagreements, not an excuse to sic the authorities on a […]
Divorced Dad Asks: Can Ex-Wife Force Me to Overprotect My Child?
. Here’s one of the occasional letters I get from divorced parents who see their child’s safety differently: Dear Free-Range Kids: I hope you can help me or provide me with some recommendations. I have a court date on October 6th in which it will be discussed whether I can let my 9-year-old daughter (4th […]
“Students are Not Allowed to Ride Their Bikes to School” — Help Needed
Ok, readers: MORE advice needed. This time on how to persuade a school that it is being crazy excessively protective. Dear Free-Range Kids: I am so very upset right now and would love to have your (and other FRK readers) advice. I emailed the elementary school principal, asking where my son can park/lock his bike. (FYI, […]
A Summertime Bus for Kids to the Pool and Library?
Let’s hear it for Nashua, NH, a child-friendly city indeed! Take note, all ye urbanists, city planners, and mayors: Look at how simple a summer-changing, childhood changing idea can be. Nashua is giving kids the gift of transit — and trust. According to the Nashua Patch: The city of Nashua will launch a summer recreation […]
A Remote Control Brake for Your Kid’s Bike?
Readers — Add this to the ever-longer list of items that start from the assumption that kids are in constant danger so parents must be in constant control: \ \ Needless to say (perhaps) I am dismayed by this device, not only because it gives kids the wrong impression — “I don’t have to learn to […]
Does Car Slowing Down = “Attempted Kidnapping”?
Readers — This story is headlined, “Attempted kidnapping caught on tape!” but…was it? I’m glad the girl is safe but does a slowing car really equal = “kidnap threat”? Unless there’s more to this story than what we see here, it strikes me as bizarre that everyone is acting as if the girl somehow only […]
