Should you take small children as passengers - Split thread

[Shadow77]

*** NOTE FROM MODERATOR***
This thread has been split from the Riding with Children discussion viewtopic.php?t=22110 as I felt it was worth discussing them both separately.
Thanks
Andy - Nibblet99
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Don't glorify your bike and they won't care about riding on it. Don't make it look like fun.

I did the opposite. I out her on the bike when it was a tad colder then she would have otherwise liked and rode some bumpy roads.

Problem solved. She has no interest in riding on the back anymore and I am more then glad. Kids. don't belong on the back motorcycles.

Be a hero using a different method.

[ofblong]

Don't glorify your bike and they won't care about riding on it. Don't make it look like fun.

I did the opposite. I out her on the bike when it was a tad colder then she would have otherwise liked and rode some bumpy roads.

Problem solved. She has no interest in riding on the back anymore and I am more then glad. Kids. don't belong on the back motorcycles.

Be a hero using a different method.

Dude its a privelage for my kids not a "you get to ride whenever you want" thing. My son has been doing awesome in Kindergarten this year and I wanted to let him do something he wanted to do. Thats fine if you think kids dont belong on the back of motorcycles but I have no problem with it. I didnt do it because I "Have to" but because it gives me more riding time as well as right now it allows me to do father/son time alone with each child. Thats worth more to a child (and to me) than anything else in this world. He will remember the ride as one of the good memories with dad.

as for the belt that sounds good and all but if I happen to fall I dont want to crush him with my weight as well as the bike. im not sure I really like the strapping idea.

(I should mention my 5 yr old is the only one I will take out on the road cause hes the only one that can touch the pegs and currently the only one I trust to hold on).

[scan]

Well, I didn't go crazy searching, but in a brief scan of the Internet I found no record of accidents with children on bikes. I'm sure it must happen, but I think if you approach riding with care and everyone is geared up, I think it is a reasonable recreation for a family. Accidents happen, but I'm sure more kids are killed in cars, so be sure to keep your kids out of the car. No crossing the street. Stay out of the bath tub too.

[ofblong]

Well, I didn't go crazy searching, but in a brief scan of the Internet I found no record of accidents with children on bikes. I'm sure it must happen, but I think if you approach riding with care and everyone is geared up, I think it is a reasonable recreation for a family. Accidents happen, but I'm sure more kids are killed in cars, so be sure to keep your kids out of the car. No crossing the street. Stay out of the bath tub too.

I agree. Shadow seems like one of those overprotective idjuts that "OMG my son cant play in the mud he might get some sort of gross bacteria that could hurt him". I am sorry but those people are idiots. What is a life if you didnt live it doing something fun, be it dangerous or not. My wife has a friend that way. Wont let her kids go swimming cause they might die. wont put more than 1/4" of water in the bathtub cause shes afraid they might drown. Her oldest daughter didnt stop using a booster seat till she was 11 years old.

Fathers do what THEY think is fun and want their kids to enjoy it. I like fishing but its rare that im able to and willing to go out and do it. For me I ride a bike just about every single day and can take my son with me on one of my trips to say Home Depot (only if I need small stuff do I take the bike lol). I didnt create this thread to start a debate on whats wrong or right about WHO should ride on a motorcycle. I created it because I want to make the ride fun but as safe as I possibly can (outside of not letting him ride) just "in case".

*edit I just looked as well scan and the only bike deaths I can find were attributed to children riding a pedal bike across an intersection. I just emailed a child safety group to see if they have an answer.

[Shorts]

This thread...

My uncle raced bikes and when he'd come to town, he'd take all us cousins out for a spin on his Ninja. I couldn't have been out of elementary school yet. He'd pop his spare helmet on our heads, told us not to touch the mufflers - they're hot, and hold on real tight.

Gawd he'd scared the jeebus out of us doing wheelies down the street. Then close his "show" with a burnout.

Smart? Eh. Fun? Hell yeah. Risky? Sure. But that's how we grew up. We weren't made out of glass. We didn't live in a bubble. Take precautions but don't take the fun out of being a kid and getting to try special things. My life would have sucked and I don't think I'd be half the woman I am now if I didn't have the experiences I had growing up.

[ofblong]

This thread...

My uncle raced bikes and when he'd come to town, he'd take all us cousins out for a spin on his Ninja. I couldn't have been out of elementary school yet. He'd pop his spare helmet on our heads, told us not to touch the mufflers - they're hot, and hold on real tight.

Gawd he'd scared the jeebus out of us doing wheelies down the street. Then close his "show" with a burnout.

Smart? Eh. Fun? Hell yeah. Risky? Sure. But that's how we grew up. We weren't made out of glass. We didn't live in a bubble. Take precautions but don't take the fun out of being a kid and getting to try special things. My life would have sucked and I don't think I'd be half the woman I am now if I didn't have the experiences I had growing up.

thank you for this .

[Shadow77]

As is usual when people refuse to see reality they come up with stretches and analogies that have little to do with the real level of risk.

The comparison of cars to bikes-

Parents take their kids boating, even though they could drown.

Yeah theres a real risk.

They take them camping in the woods, even though they could become lost or eaten by a bear.

Yeah that happens a lot.

Probably the the most dangerous thing they expose their kids to is travelling in the family car.

Knew this one was coming,

You might say that travel by car is statistically safer than by motorcycle, and you'd be right. But the fact is that the risk of the occasional 10 mile motorcycle ride statistically pales in comparision with the risk of hauling your kids around on our deadly highways for 8K-10K miles every year. They're not even on the same order of magnitude.

And yes the ULTIMATE unrealistic rationalization for putting one's child on a motor cycle where there are no such things as "fender benders"

Please. Not putting a child on the back of a motorcycle is not akin to keeping them in a bubble. There are certainly a lot of bubble kids of parents who don't ride.

Ask 10 people on the street if its safe to put a kid on a motorcycle. Lets see how many feel you are keeping your kid in a bubble if you don't.

Oh and tell them the "bear story too" in your defense. They will get a hoot from that one.

[Nibblet99]

I will be honest from the start and say I don't have kids.... yet

However My view on this is that I shouldn't be taking any risks with my life I wouldn't allow my kids to take. I can't think of anything worse to do to a kid that have them grow up fatherless.

BUT if the rewards outweight the risks for me, then likewise that goes for the kids too

If, at that stage, I'm still riding a bike, then hell yes if the kid can be trusted to do what I say, they'll go riding with me. If I draw the risk differently, then neither of us will ride. I can't say where I will be, because as I said I'm not a father, I can't even begin to contemplate how I will feel about the risk vs reward balance.

Ask 10 people on the street if its safe to put a kid on a motorcycle. Lets see how many feel you are keeping your kid in a bubble if you don't.

Not meaning to be a personal attack, so please don't take offense. But ask 10 people on the street if anyone should be riding bikes, and a lot of people will say no. Too many people have opinions on things they know almost nothing about. (Sometimes that includes me)


On a side note:
This thread was about minimising the risks, and I feel it could become full of valuable content for many people who draw the risks differently, and wish to ride with there kids. So I will kindly ask that should you wish to have the debate about whether or not kids should be on bikes, please create a second thread, and I'll move this response into it too. Otherwise this thread is just going to deteriorate, and all the useful information, becomes hard to find.

[ofblong]

Please as the mod stated move this to another thread if you want to debate it. Leave this one to the ideas of others who have riden or have given rides to their children or been a child on a bike themselves. Like I said I have no problem giving my son rides on it as it is a fun experience for him and a learning one for both of us. I do, however, want to make it as safe as possible as well should I crash or get run into whatever it may be. I may try to go find a belt this weekend to try.

[Nibblet99]

Ok, I've split the threads as best I could. Hopefully we can have 2 sensible discussions now. This one has a lot of potential for flaming, but thought its worth the discussion anyway