When it gets this warm, I stop cooking. On Tuesday we decided to have a family sushi night so we could ride in the warmth to the restaurant. Declan was very clear that he wanted to ride his own bicycle, not on the sidewalk. It was quiet out, and with four of us to buffer him, why the heck not?
I am quite sure that people seeing us pass thought I was completely nuts for letting my kids, especially one so young, do something as radical as ride a bicycle on a street (godforbidbutatleastheiswearingahelmet...) but that's fine with me. I had the great joy of seeing my three monsters pedaling away, joking with one another, keeping tabs on each other and enjoying the amazing evening.
It is always a little difficult when he decides he would rather skid to a stop than slow down and come to a gradual one, but other than that, we just enjoyed a real summer evening on our bicycles. Something about sunset light, and summer heat, and bicycles and the prospect of sushi make a Tuesday night quite nice.
If I saw you all riding, most especially with a child that young, I'd think you were the greatest parent on earth :) I love that you are showing your kids an example other than jumping into a car to drive a couple of miles (or less). It would be wonderful if all children were taught to ride bikes and how to safely ride in the road (God forbid!) at an early age.
ReplyDeleteI go past several schools on my way to work, and am always amazed at how I never see even ONE child (or parent with child) walking, much less biking. What I do see is a long line of vehicles at each school dropping kids off. At one particular middle school, I once saw someone pull out of a driveway (of a home) literally 2-3 blocks away and then pull over in front of the school to drop the child off. And this isn't a suburb - it's an urban environment, so it's not as if you can't get to the school without driving. Pathetic!
aww. How awesome. I remember when I was that young and riding around I always preferred to skid to a stop. I absolutely loved skidding on the concrete. :-)
ReplyDelete-ryan
Someday I hope - maybe in our children's lives - this family riding won't seem so outer spacey. Go you for making it happen now!
ReplyDeletethanks for teaching the rest of us what it means to be normal...
ReplyDeleteWe just did the Midnight Madness bike ride in San Diego. One of the riders in our group was a young girl, probably a bit younger than your son. She did great because she had the bike handling skills to really enjoy the ride safely. She completed the entire 20 mile loop and had a great time riding with the adults.
ReplyDeleteI love this post. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking your kids out. On the bike, in the road -- all of it.
ReplyDeleteThe best advocacy we can all do is ride. Ride, and let everyone see that is absolutely freaking normal. And fun. And safe.