Advocacy & Safety - Is it just me...

This weekend I was reading a book to my niece, "Junie B's Essential Survival Guide to School" In section two - Getting there, she says "The worst way I can think of to get to school is called WALKING!" then she says "Walking is not the only worst way to get to school, there is also riding your bike". She goes on to say that riding the bus is her favorite way although it can take a long time "but at least it's better than walking or riding your bike". I think this is very irresponsible of Barbara Park to write that.

This really annoyed me. I'm firing off a letter to the publisher. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive.

A long time ago I read 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'. There was a character in it named Adolph Hitler who, in the book, advocated the extermination of jews, gypsies, homosexuals and mental defectives. This annoyed me much as the Junie B book annoyed you. Should I also write a letter to the publisher because a character in that book has views that don't coincide with my own?

Meh, some people are very shallow and don't recognize the value of slowing down, or the spirituality of moving through the world under your own power. These people can't be forced to realize these things, they will come to them on their own or they'll go through life shallowly. Complaining that shallow people are shallow won't change them. Leave them alone and let them decide for themselves if they're missing anything.

This weekend I was reading a book to my niece, "Junie B's Essential Survival Guide to School"

From what I remember reading Junie B with my kids, the Junie B character is a mis-behaving sourpuss who serves as a bad example. (shrug)

ok so maybe it is just me.

ok so maybe it is just me.

Yes, it is just you.

If you want to read to your child, AND be pro-cycling, read them excerpts of The Quotable Cyclist. If you're reading TO them, and they're just beginning to read, you have plenty of time to re-direct that 'bad programming'.

It's a trifle; let it go.

Wow, zero to Hitler in two posts! That's gotta be some kind of record.

Wow, zero to Hitler in two posts! That's gotta be some kind of record.

BF A&S is in the nahtzee killin' bidness.

Wow, zero to Hitler in two posts! That's gotta be some kind of record.

OK, I suppose holocaust analogies should be saved for more serious topics. I apologize.

I guess my point was do we really need this kind of anti biking/walking **** given to our kids? Yes I know that parents are responsible for their kids and what they read but many parents aren't. Btw this was my niece, not my kids. I've already brainwashed my kids about biking.
Sure at first it's just a minor thing in a kids book then it's on TV or a movie. Then it's the school districts building schools where it's not safe for kids to ride their bikes. Are there books that encourage riding your bike to school? There are entire organizations dedicated to riding your bike to school, so it must be important to someone.

It's just another example of how the country has changed in just a few decades. (Old geezer rant time....) Yes, I rode by bicycle to school, or I walked. That was simply the way it was done. Today, we have everyone from newspaper columnists to school officials (with police backing them up in some places) telling kids and parents that no, you cannot walk or ride a bike to school. What the heck has happened?

As for bringing Hitler and the Nazis into, isn't there some sort of rule for that? Godwin's law, if I'm not mistaken.