Chapter 8 of Bike Easy is about carrying young children by bike and then starting them cycling on their own. There’s equipment galore to keep you and your brood on two wheels, from your child’s first few months right through to the time when they get a bike of their own.
Children like cycling. As babies they’re fascinated by the sensation of movement, the swishing wheels and the bike’s whirs and clicks. From the vantage point of a child seat or the security of a cycle trailer they get to see, hear and feel the outside world. Once they start cycling themselves a bike means freedom, the chance to explore their surroundings and to develop independence.
On top of that, cycling can mean the difference between children living a long, healthy life or succumbing, needlessly, to debilitating medical conditions when they’re older. Adults need a minimum of 30 minutes exercise every day. Children need at least twice that amount, but vast numbers of kids get nothing like enough. It is estimated that up to 15 percent of children in the UK are overweight or obese and the problem, like the children, is growing bigger.
Children that aren’t active are likely to grow up fat, sluggish and with a greatly increased risk of developing raised blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, diabetes and various cancers in later life. No parent can want that for their child.
So get cycling! Cycling is superb exercise that means stronger bones, a healthier heart and more stamina. It lowers the risk factors for a whole raft of illnesses. As well as physical benefits, there’s evidence that cycling brings psychological benefits too, including greater alertness and improved concentration. A brisk bike ride burns off pent up energy resulting in sweeter tempers and better behaviour. (Well, possibly!)
Most children are keen to own a bike (cycles are always in the top ten of the most requested Christmas gifts) and kids usually pick up the necessary mix of knowledge, judgement and skill that we know as road-sense without any difficulty – especially if they have proper Bikeability cycle training. Their learning will be embedded all the more firmly if the family goes cycling together and if parents set a good example with their own cycling style.
This chapter is about carrying young children by bike and then getting them a bike of their own. By the age of 10 or so they should be competent little cyclists with the road sense and the skills to make everyday trips such as the journey to school. More>>>
