I'm surprised that in the zeal to encourage this kid to ride through a 'ghetto' in the dark, nobody seems to have considered that his dad is in the hospital. Presumably his mom, or whoever is taking care of him, is probably just a little preoccupied with the hospitalized father and doesn't need the extra stress of worrying about whether the kid has safely made it to school or back home again every day. And since there appears to be nobody available to drive him to school now, if he has a bike problem, who is going to come to help?

I'm all for encouraging kids to ride bikes, but this is not a good situation for that. The last thing the kid needs to be doing right now is adding an additional complication to the rest of the family.