Author Topic: Help needed  (Read 29085 times)

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Offline mike_khad1

Help needed
« on: October 21, 2006, 09:40:34 pm »
I have 5 kids - 17, 16, 14, 11, 8. My older three do not want to have anything with going on bike rides or short tours. My 8 year old will go with me anywhere. The 11 year old is hot and cold. How do I encourage all of the kids to go on bicycle adventures? I'm about to give up and just take the youngest with me.

Work to Eat
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Bike to Work

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
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Bike to Work

Offline bdouglas

Help needed
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2006, 05:21:39 pm »
Don't Give up! For some great articles on bicycling with kids, visit our  magazine archives at http://www.adventurecycling.org/library/index.cfm. Type in "Paula Holmes" in the search field. Paula has written many articles for us on kids and bicycling. Her latest article "Finding Manemones", is a great testament to a key in bicycling with kids - including things that interest THEM in your trip.

It is also very important to include the kids in the planning of your trip, starting with small rides and working up to something longer if you wish. If one of your kids is a big basketball fan, bike to a game. If another loves ice cream, bike to get a cone. Ask them what gets them excited, and plan a trip around that theme (taste testing all of the local cookie joints is a personal favorite). Make sure to discover what sort of bicycling, if that had to do one, they would choose. For example, do any of them like mountain biking or trail riding? If so, try to encourage them to get more into whatever sort of cycling strikes their fancy.

Since your kids are such varied ages, it might be nice to invite some of them to bring along a friend on a ride. You can also set up some system where you track their miles, and offer rewards for when goals are reached (like they pick a movie to rent when they bike to school five days in a row).

I would also recommend touching base with any local or state bicycle groups in your area that work hands-on with kids on bikes, they may have some great ideas on ways to kids even more psyched on bikes. The Thunderhead Alliance has partners in almost every state that work with bikes and kids. Check out who is in your state at http://www.thunderheadalliance.org/links.htm.

And good luck!

............................
Happy bicycling,

Becky Douglas
Outreach and Education Coordinator
Adventure Cycling Association

Offline mike_khad1

Help needed
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2006, 10:53:25 pm »
thank you for your advice - it was very helpful. I'll give it a shot. It's probably one of those generational issues. My kids are used to being driven from place to place. When I was young, my main mode of transport was my bicycle.

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

Offline 10thgear

Help needed
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2006, 08:03:18 pm »
I would suggest you try to find a youth organization, or Boy Scout of America Venture Crew, in your area that provides cycling experiences for older teens. Once they get hooked with kids their own age, they are likely to want to ride as a family as well. I am the director of 10thGear Christian Youth Cyclists, www.10thgear.com. We outreach to kids ages 11-20. Providing positive youth tours.


Offline mike_khad1

Help needed
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2007, 04:23:10 am »
Thanks a ton 10thgear. I'm keeping my eyes open. I'll let you know how the summer goes.

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

Offline AJB

Help needed
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2007, 06:27:59 pm »
Hi, the best way to get the kids involved is to make it their trip. I love cycling and have been touring for a few years. Our two boys started when they were 8 and 10. Our first trips were to the Dairy Queen or even to the grocery (to sit in the parking lot and eat a box of popcycles).  Their first long day was a 105 km day and we took 12 hours to complete it.  The destination was a cabin at a campground with a big waterslide. We stoped for all sorts of reasons along the way including finding treasors (bungy cords,bird feathers and a small flag). Two years latter they have enjoyed a 10 days family trip with Atlantic Canada Cycling in Newfoundland Canada, 670 km of rocky coastline with people from all over. We are now planning to cycle in France in 2008 and the boys are looking forward to crossing Canada with mom and dad in 2009.  The trick is to keep it fun for them and let them make it their adventure.


Offline billbluetandem

Help needed
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2008, 02:26:54 am »
You will probably have to give up on the teenagers.  We did.  We took our (now) 18 and 16 year old boys on quite a few fairly ambitious tours when they were younger (Santa Barbara to San Diego, Arizona, West Virginia, etc.).  Now they have their own interests and that doesn't include biking, at least for the forseeable future.  But if they ever meet girls who are interested in riding, and tell them about the trips they did, who knows?

Ride all you can with the 8-year-old, and try to coax the 11-year-old sometimes.  Don't oversell it.  If you try to force the 11 yr old to ride, it will backfire on you.


Offline mike_khad1

Help needed
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2008, 04:37:38 pm »
Thanks Bill Blue - that is the approach I've taken. I don't want to oversell it or drive anyone away. I like the idea of having them plan the trip. Once it warms up a bit here, we'll do that.

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

Offline WesternFlyer

Help needed
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2008, 03:01:13 am »
There doesnt seem to be too much action on the youth forum.  And that is really a sad commentary on real outdoor adventure that todays youth is missing.   This thread was started in 06!  Mikes three oldest are now 19,18 and 16 more or less.  My advice to Mike and other parents of teenager is to let them go it alone.  Let them earn some money for the trip, maybe pay for the transportation to the starting point, and give them cell phones and an ATM card.  I hate to breach the news to parents, but your children have to break-away on their own sometime.

When I was 16 years old, a high school mate and I road from Canada to Mexico entirely on our own, and we not only made it but it became a beacon that guides me to this day.  That was in 1963.  We were in three newspapers on the way and the TV cameras were rolling as we crossed the Mexican boarder.  Our local bike shop posted a map tracking our progress (posted on the bike shop wall, not the internet!).

As I road down the Oregon coast last summer I asked myself if I would feel ok letting my grandchildren take such a ride un-chaperoned when they reach their teens.  Times certainly have changed, but absolutely!  At least for the Pacific Coast route it is far safer today than it was forty-five years ago.


Western Flyer

A wheel spins in a circle.
The still point at the center
gives it direction.
Be still.

   "The Parents' Tao Te Ching"
Western Flyer

We must ride light and swift.  It is a long road ahead.

King Theoden

Offline johnsondasw

Re: Help needed
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2009, 11:14:26 pm »
Great post, WF.  I agree, we need to get kids out there on adventures, teaching them how to take care of themselves and solving the problems that come up.  These are the experiences that are truly formative.

Haven't seen many posts lately from you, WF.  Everything OK?

I hope so.
May the wind be at your back!

Offline 10thgear

Re: Help needed
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2009, 12:01:56 pm »
I agree there is not much action on this discussion but I know there are youth out their taking trips. I agree the go it alone approach can work well. I have been cycling with my youngest son since he was 9. At age 13, he and I rode across the USA from Glenwood Springs, CO to Boston, MA with the cycling group I direct (www.10thgear.com). At age 17, he and I rode across the USA from Seaside, OR to Boston, MA. He is now 19 and a sophomore in college. He announced that a college friend and he will be riding from San Diego, CA to Boston, MA (4200 miles) next summer. They already have a rough route planned, including a stop to see the largest ball of twine in the world in Kansas and a stop at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I give advice only when asked. It is great to see the love of cycling he has built over the years and how he engages his friends in this activity. Kudos to ACA for all the self-contained information on their website as well as those wonderful maps. He is totally engaged in doing 'just enough' planning to remove most of the stress of doing such a trip. When asked how long they will be on the road his response is "until the journey is finished". Awesome!!

Offline johnsondasw

Re: Help needed
« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2009, 06:06:42 pm »
Kill your TV.  We did when the kids were very young and spent our time with them doing outdoor stuff--biking, building forts, skiing, hiking, camping, rock climbing, etc.  We also read with them a lot and modelled it ourselves.  Now they're grown up and refuse to have TV themselves.  There are many lost opportunities when kids are watching TV or playing video games (we refused to allow those in the house, too).  Make them part of your lives and do healthy fun stuff with them, and most kids will jump at the chance to go on a bike trip!
May the wind be at your back!

Offline myflove

Re: Help needed
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2009, 02:38:17 pm »

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work



I like that word :)