[Rachaelxxx]

I know this probably sounds like a really silly question, but my husband and I were talking about this last night and I was saying if I had my time over, I would have purchased a house in a nice quiet court location, where the kids could ride their bikes and scooters around as much as they liked.

We live on a busy street, lovely suburb and great neighbours, but I'm not comfortable with the kids riding up and down the street with the amount of traffic around. At times just the logistical nightmare of taking the 5 girls out bike riding as well is hard. The older 3 can ride bikes (not confidently) and the younger 2 (5 and 6 year olds) are still on their training wheels.

I guess what I'm asking is, whilst my girls are active, I really haven't given them a lot of exposure on the roads / footpaths while riding bikes. How much importance do you place on this and at what ages are you comfortable allowing your kids to "hit the streets on their own" so to speak.

My girls ages are 5, 6, 7, 9 and 11.

[2xpink]

I can't help you but have been wondering the same thing.



My girls are 6 and nearly 9, and they only ride closely supervised on our quiet country town street (mainly because we do have the occasional hoon). I often see younger kids riding to school, but do not yet feel comfortable letting mine do so. No matter how much I nag them they seem to have no idea of looking out for traffic, crossing roads etc.


It would be nice to let them have their independence but I can't imagine doing this for another 18 months/2years.

[i-candi]

We live on that ideal street that you talk of, semi rural double cul-de-sac, street full of kids. Our house has a huge amount of concrete driveways and paths - three car garage, two car carport plus massive shed area out back (we didn't put it in) so it's heaven for kids and their roller skates, skateboards and scooters.

DD 10 is always outside and wonders up and down the street looking for someone to play with, DS 13 doesn't like to go outside.

[No girls here]

We're in the same position as you. My kids are active but we don't do much bike riding. We're in a busy street too and there is nowhere for them to ride bikes around on their own, and we often don't go to the effort of taking them anywhere.

I'm not confident about them riding the streets on their own yet (two older ones are 8 and 6) but that's really to do with their lack of road sense. They have been out with DH and a friend's father before. The last time DS1 managed to run into a parked car and smash his two front (permanent) teeth so he's now a bit hesitant about bike riding now.

[kadoodle]

DD1 (10yo) is always out and about on her bike with girlfriends. DD2 (4yo) is a confident rider with training wheels on the verge of coming off. DS1 (8yo) refuses to ride.

[*LucyE*]

We live in a quiet court but I won't let my kids ride their bikes there. We have a Neighbour who is an 'erratic' driver as well as lots of rubber neckers who don't pay attention to the road. One of our newer neighbours allows their kids to kid around the cout unsupervised (aged 6yr, 9yrs, 10yrs).

I did a lot of bike riding when I was young but that was due to not having anything else to do. My kids are still active and they know how to ride. How much they ride isn't important.

[Maple Leaf]

We live on a dead end lane that has only 3 houses..so they go out and ride quite a lot there without any problems at all.

I don't let them go out onto the street though without us, they must stay in our lane. As cars can whip around quite quickly.

[SlinkyMalinki]

My 4 year old has had access to bikes, and given lots of encouragement, but she's just not that enthusiastic. I think part of it is, we do have to take them somewhere to have a decent ride, there's no footpaths here to practise on, and we live between two busy roads.

My favourite thing from about 4 to 16 was riding my bike, I'm a little disappointed she's not interested TBH. I'm still hoping she'll come around, for Christmas we all got new bikes, in hopes of going out riding as a family.

I also grew up in a heavy traffic area, but begged my parents to take me to the park all the time, and as soon as I was old enough, spent a few afternoons a week, and most of the weekend off riding with friends.

[lisles]

I have been riding my now 10 year old to school regularly for several years and she still doesn't have the road sense for me to allow her to do it alone. There is only one intersection she has to cross but she doesn't always remember to check for turning traffic or cars behind her before she pulls out to cross.

Even when she is doing the right thing, some drivers don't. It is not unusual for drivers to turn left, cutting off cyclists who are riding on the edge of the road, or fling open doors without looking.

I don't think I would be allowing kids on roads unsupervised until they reach high school age, and even then only if they had lots of experience riding with adults who can explain road rules and safety issues.

[Wahwah]

We live in the inner city, near busy roads, tram lines, trains etc. I wouldn't let my kids ride alone until they are 12-14.

Having said that, we ride a lot. I ride with them to school a couple of days a week, and on the weekends we often ride as a family about 6km to our favourite park (and it will be more as the little one builds stamina).

The kids are 5 and 7, and both got bikes at 4 and were off training wheels after only a month. Having had balance bikes before this helped with not needing training wheels for long.

7yo is so fast now that sometimes I struggle to keep up with him on the bike tracks.

This post has been edited by Wahwah: 11/01/2013, 09:48 AM