A couple of days ago I posted a picture I took at Waterloo Park’s Medieval Faire. My first thought was, OMG I hope a kid’s not riding on the back of that thing!
Now to be fair at the time I was pushing my 4 and 2 year old in a jogging stroller. So my thought was, I’d never put my 2 year old in that thing and ride around.
I posted the picture on a number of social media sites and the varied reaction was kind of a surprise:
- Where I grew up that’s how I got to Grandma’s house.
- Hey, looks fine to me. We don’t live in bubble wrap.
- Hopefully a child doesn’t ride in that seat.
- It’s a wonder humans aren’t extinct yet.
The picture didn’t capture the context, which is important. I wouldn’t take my 2 year old on a trail-a-bike as he’d be liable to let go while trying to grab a leaf or something. But my four year old on the other hand is so proud to ride the trail-a-bike, although I stick to traffic calmed areas and will avoid the likes of King Street (but that’s more me than anything).
Great video! Lovin’ the oompa music.
I think a point that is often forgotten is how dangerous it is to take kids in a CAR – it’s the single most dangerous thing we can do with our kids, and the most common cause of death for kids in our society. Yet most of us do it for years without giving it a single thought – I know I did. And no one ever criticizes parents for exposing their kids to danger in that way. In fact, recklessness is encouraged, if anything. I remember once I was at a stop street trying to make a left on a very busy 4-lane street. I wasn’t going to do anything reckless with my 5-year-old and my 1-year-old buckled into the back seat. I had the usual “Baby in car” stickers on my car. A cab driver honked at me to hurry up. I got out and went to him and explained that I was not going to endanger my daughters’ lives to save him 2 minutes … unfortunately he just thought I was a crazy person, got frightened and rolled up his windows …