“So much of the suburban area where we live is just plain impossible to negotiate unless you are in a car…Our kids are trapped in our neighborhood in terms of bike riding.“
When we were growing up, we biked everywhere. It was how we got to explore the wider world on our own without direct adult supervision. And it was how we started to learn the skills we needed to be independent adults. It was also how we learned about the responsibilities that come with freedom. And it allowed us to learn those lessons in a context where the consequence of an error or mistake was a skinned knee or, at worst, a broken bone.
Most of our children today are not nearly so fortunate. If we allow our children to explore the world by bicycle (which has become rare), we know how awful the consequences can be. Far more commonly, we simply keep our children in a state of unnaturally extended dependency – think video games and “play dates” – until they either get a drivers license or leave home altogether. And then they have to learn the lessons of responsibility and freedom fast, and in a context where a mistake or an error can have literally fatal consequences.
By joining with other cyclists, you are supporting an organized, unified and powerful voice for bicycling. We have shown how powerful – how irresistible, in fact – we are when we are unified, organized and focused. If you want more of that – and want more opportunities for bicycling to be part of growing up in Delaware – please help by becoming a member of Bike Delaware, today.