I can’t pick up a parenting book or magazine without ranting to my wife about the often useless, and I suspect completely made-up, quotes from pseudo parents the authors use to make their points. Take for example this one from The Mother of All Toddler Books, Sharon, a 29-year-old mother of one, says, “You have to believe in the discipline method you’re using in order to be able to properly enforce it.”
Thanks Sharon.
First of all who is Sharon (or Nicole, Loree or Kathlene) and what makes her more of an authority on nutrition or behaviour modification than any other parent? I don’t want to hear about their problems, I want advice from experts with ph.Ds or at least from parents with real experience (like 11 kids).
The other problem I have is that these authors are always telling me how to deal with problems, not how to prevent them. For example, if you want your toddlers to stop whining, your pre-schoolers to have an appetite and your teenagers to stay out of trouble, I say get them outside and allow them freedom to explore… I say get them on a bicycle.
ADVENTURE, TRAVEL, AND INDEPENDENCE ON A BIKE
Biking is such an important part of family camping. Riding bikes is something you can do around the campground or it can be the means of travel for a week-long camping vacation. Bikes offer adventure, travel, skidding, jumping and the fastest way to get fishing in the creek. Bikes for kids are independence and exercise, two things that have never been more important than in our modern Xbox world.
To support my argument, and in the spirit of mocking the advice found in mainstream parenting media, I present to you three experts who really do exist, whose advice I respect and whose desire to be outside and riding bikes with kids is truly inspiring.
Beth Rubenstein from Kingston, Ontario, a 32-year-old mother of two and family doctor, cycled with her husband and seven-month-old daughter Zoe from Amsterdam to Brussels, “We didn’t want to give up our active travel holidays just because we’d had a baby. It turns out the rhythms of travelling with a baby are well suited to a cycling vacation. When she slept we rode. When she was awake we rested and explored. And at night we camped. It was really that easy and not that different than our other cycling trips.”
Rick and Wendy Matthews, grandparents in their late 50s from Mount Hope, Ontario, remember back to their cycling trips with their kids in the early 1980s. “The bikes went with us on every camping trip. When Laura and Jason were 15 and 11 we flew overseas for a four-week trip through Yorkshire and Wales,” remembers Rick. “In the hostels they got to meet kids from around the world.” Twenty years later, three generations of Matthews go family camping together and on at least one four-day cycling trip every summer (photo above).
Doug Detwiller, an elementary school teacher living in Gibson, British Columbia, along with other cycling enthusiasts and parents developed Sprockids, a national program that introduces kids to cycling. Nine to twelve year-olds work their way through a fun program of riding skills, bike mechanics and safety and etiquette.
Funny, you’d think a program kids enjoy and is credited with building self-esteem, empathy for others and providing kids with a feeling of belonging would be mentioned in parenting books and magazines.
Maybe Sharon, the 29-year-old mother of one, doesn’t believe in riding bikes.
But I do.
This article first appeared in the Spring 2007 issue of Canoeroots Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Canoeroots’ print and digital editions here.
