Originally Posted by
dondonaldo
We're a car lite family with two girls ages 16 months and 3 1/2 years. I commute year round and have strong reservations about perpetuating the car culture mentality. The kids spend enough time in the car, especially in winter, that I'm looking for bike culture positive influences, but find them far and few between. There's no end to the anthropomorphised cars in movies, books and toys, but there aren't many examples of good movies, toys and books that support a positive bike culture. So, what are the best bike influences for kids?
When they get to that young teen age where they and their friends don't drive but they want to go do things they'd rather their parents not know about. As soon as a close friend drives, bikes suck. If dad is into bikes, bikes suck even more.
For me, using a bike to run a paper route and make money was the thing, but that was an entirely different eon.
For my kid biking was fun until she became a teenager and she realized that the wider culture especially her friends considered it dorky. She felt humiliated when we'd arrive at a soccer game by bike when all her teamates arrived by limo or suv. Even her teamates who lived in walking distance to the field got driven.