Originally Posted by Helmet Head

Unless you're talking about a route between home and schools that is on a path that uses no streets, which is highly unlikely, then you're talking about the following choices:

1. Kid rides on streets
2. Kid rides on sidewalk, paths, crosswalks
3. Kid rides on some combination of (a) and (b)
4. Kid doesn't ride

If the kid does not have the skills for (a), does he have the skills for (b) or (c)? I think the skills required to ride safely on sidewalks along streets, crosswalks and paths that intersect streets are greatly underestimated, and are very similar to the skills required to ride on these same streets. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I know the percentage of cyclist deaths that result from kids riding on sidewalks is astonishingly high.