Would you let your kid ride a MOTORCYCLE ???

FZ1Tom · Oct 4, 2004

Yes, absolutely!

I could go on and on about the details, but the simple fact of life is that it involves a certain amount of risk. I've long since figured out there are two basic mentalities folks have - risk takers and those afraid to take risks. Neither is better or worse than the other, provided that individual deals with it properly. I do admit I feel a bit frustrated by people who seem driven by raw emotion when subjects like this are brought up (my grandmother always exclaimed "I'm afraid you're gonna fall off and crack your head open!".....like it was an egg?). I'm not a parent, never have been, but I was a kid once. You know what? I shoulda got killed a long time ago on that farm! Driving the tractor when I was 7, moving under heavy stuff dangling in the air, riding heavy machinery, the hay elevator (almost DID buy the farm on that one, reached the top, then flipped backwards and endoed all the way to the bottom). going off hunting in the woods with a shotgun (mmm, fried squirrel) Needless to say I got my fair share of bumps and bruises.

Anyways, about bikes in particular. YES, it is more dangerous, and YES, riding on the street is more dangerous still, BUT, you can mitigate the risks, and largely have your cake and eat it too. Be willing to invest in a good helmet (this will be worth every penny you spend) and some good gear (gloves, boots, jacket/pads, pants). You learn the basics riding dirt bikes, including....how to fall down. you fall down, you get right back up and keep riding. Most of all, you learn to respect the machine - this is espescially important on the street. Riding a motorcycle of any size in traffic absolutely demands it. Sportbikes only more so.

Consider the following personal maxim - motorcycles, guns, chain saws and such are 90 percent common sense, and about 5 percent respect and 5 percent fear. Its when folks lose one of those 5 percent parts that problems happen - fear merely paralyzes you and you suffer, and losing respect for the machine means you WILL get bit eventually. A little fear is very healthy.....too much is not, none is simply dangerous. I hope this rambling has been of some help......

Tom

(former and future owner of a Yamaha FZ1....may it rest in peace)

BeccaRN · Oct 4, 2004

My boys (11 and 13) have been riding dirt bikes for 3 years now. They started out with 4-wheelers when they were 5. They have to wear all the protective gear and helmets. We are teaching them safety while riding and when they get older they're going to take a safety course. We have a 4 year old daughter who is wanting a 4-wheeler and we'll probably end up getting her one. Motorcycles and 4-wheelers are fun but kids have to be taught the correct way to ride. When I was growing up my mom wouldn't let me touch them.

bonjovigirl · Oct 4, 2004

My husband and I both ride. I only take my bike out on the really nice days to picnic or something, he takes his to work on a regular basis. I do worry about him riding so much, but its a passing fear. Fear is irrational. Yes, motorcycles are a risk, but so is getting out of bed every morning. My husband has had a few scrapes and bruises in his day, but he also got cancer at age 28. (thank god surgury was all he needed) A girlfriend of mine was on life support for months after her appendix burst and was misdiagnosed. 25 years old and has a colostomy, hysterectomy, and various other permanemt things. I almost died merging onto a very busy highway when I didn't realize the merge lane ended early. I stopped literally inches from a tractor trailer going 70 mph. We all still gotta get out of bed every morning. People see motorcycling as a thing we can avoid, therefore avoid dying. sure you can avoid it, but if its just the danger you're thinking about, then do you think about the million other ways you can die every day? I too learned how to shoot at a very young age, messing around with my dad and brother at age ..oh, maybe 10, with loaded guns. My house was full of loaded guns, both rifles and handguns. Most of us grew up with our parnents very large cars with no seatbelts (well, they were there, but who used them?) no airbags, you're 3 years old bouncing around the front seat with no restraints.

Its all the same concept. I am trying to reform from a paranoid ocd'er who would love to control every little darn thing. But we all gotta live, and do what you love. I do not have kids, so I don't have that insight. But isn't it better to teach your kids something safely, rather than them do it anyway? THere are many safety courses where you learn how to do things the RIGHT way. And there is the answer that it's not usually the motorcyclist, but the other drivers. You do learn defensive techniques that you don't in driver's ed, and at the end of the day, being anywhere near the road is dangerous.

my very long 2 cents.

zambezi, BSN, RN · Oct 4, 2004

My husband and I both ride. I only take my bike out on the really nice days to picnic or something, he takes his to work on a regular basis. I do worry about him riding so much, but its a passing fear. Fear is irrational. Yes, motorcycles are a risk, but so is getting out of bed every morning. My husband has had a few scrapes and bruises in his day, but he also got cancer at age 28. (thank god surgury was all he needed) A girlfriend of mine was on life support for months after her appendix burst and was misdiagnosed. 25 years old and has a colostomy, hysterectomy, and various other permanemt things. I almost died merging onto a very busy highway when I didn't realize the merge lane ended early. I stopped literally inches from a tractor trailer going 70 mph. We all still gotta get out of bed every morning. People see motorcycling as a thing we can avoid, therefore avoid dying. sure you can avoid it, but if its just the danger you're thinking about, then do you think about the million other ways you can die every day? I too learned how to shoot at a very young age, messing around with my dad and brother at age ..oh, maybe 10, with loaded guns. My house was full of loaded guns, both rifles and handguns. Most of us grew up with our parnents very large cars with no seatbelts (well, they were there, but who used them?) no airbags, you're 3 years old bouncing around the front seat with no restraints.
Its all the same concept. I am trying to reform from a paranoid ocd'er who would love to control every little darn thing. But we all gotta live, and do what you love. I do not have kids, so I don't have that insight. But isn't it better to teach your kids something safely, rather than them do it anyway? THere are many safety courses where you learn how to do things the RIGHT way. And there is the answer that it's not usually the motorcyclist, but the other drivers. You do learn defensive techniques that you don't in driver's ed, and at the end of the day, being anywhere near the road is dangerous.
my very long 2 cents.

Very nicely stated!!!

imenid37 · Oct 4, 2004

No. I think the risk is too high. Once they are 18, they'll do what they think is best. We call them donor cycles here too. This is America and that means that people have the freedom to do differently than me, so I don't want to insult anyone else :) .

Danelle · Oct 4, 2004

Nope. I was in a motorcycle wreck at age 4. Dad rode one. I had my own little helmet and one evening he took me riding in the neighborhood. We had just turned the corner from the house and a teenager coming toward us cut the corner into our lane. My dad had the sense to throw me onto the neighbor's grass, so I was fine. My dad was pretty messed up though. My mom and grandfather heard the wreck from inside the house. As soon as my Dad got better, he put the bike up for sell.

My mother in law lost her last husband to a motorcycle wreck. Three years ago, she totaled her Harley. She plans to buy a new one soon, which is entirely her business, but I did tell her I am NOT riding in my BIL's tiny little Prelude 60 miles, while nine months pregnant to come get her from the emergency room when she totals this one!:chuckle (which is what I did last time. What a miserable trip!) She also knows better than to suggest letting my 3 year old ride. I have a lot of friends that ride, and LOVE it, but I have had too much happen too close to home to do it myself, or let my child.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Oct 4, 2004

We have a Harley and we ride...DH will take DD on short rides like to friends houses, etc. We all wear the protective gear. I think it is a personal choice :)

nuttyRN · Oct 4, 2004

exactly - we call them donor - cycles too - I have been on the back of a Harley and absolutely loved it; but would only ride if you could guarantee that I would race around without interference - have seen too many donor motoer vehicles!

You mean a donor-cycle?? That's what the firefighters and paramedics who respond to their fatality accidents call them where I live...

CCU NRS · Oct 4, 2004

HI,
im wondering if you would let your kid get a motorcycle if they wanted.
my grandfather was a physician and would not let my mother or her sisters ride motorcycles.
so Im wondering if this had to do with the number of motorcycle related deaths/carnage he had seen. Do you see many motorcycle related accident victims?
thanks

I did not read all responses:

I would only tell you that I did ride motorcycles as a kid, got my first mini-bike (Briggs&Stratton 4horse) at about 10, graduated to a suzuki 50cc at 12 got a Suzuki 185 at 14 when in my state it was legal to get a lisence to operate MC I learned a good healthy respect for them and what can happen on them. You always have to take into account the thrill seeking factor if you have wild risk taking children then it might be dangerous, Life is a risk and most often the things that make you feel most alive are dangerous to some extent.

ps I have really been thinking about getting something to putter around on myself and I haven't owned a bike since I was 16.

jannecdote · Oct 5, 2004

My boys (11 and 13) have been riding dirt bikes for 3 years now. They started out with 4-wheelers when they were 5. They have to wear all the protective gear and helmets. We are teaching them safety while riding and when they get older they're going to take a safety course. We have a 4 year old daughter who is wanting a 4-wheeler and we'll probably end up getting her one. Motorcycles and 4-wheelers are fun but kids have to be taught the correct way to ride. When I was growing up my mom wouldn't let me touch them.

I never let my kids ride a cycle or ATV growing up. Too scared. A family at our church let their 4 year old ride a four wheeler and thought it was great that he could do that at such a young age. One day he rode right out of the woods and into the path of a truck on the paved road. He died immediately. Family was heartbroken and wracked by guilt.

allnurses Guide · Oct 5, 2004

Yes I would and have.

Our kids grew up doing farm work and driving tractors of all sorts. Riding ATV's to round up cattle or head back to the barn for a part for the broken down tractor.

I rode a motorcycle as a teenager but only on camping trips in the dirt.

Dated a guy who had a motorcycle - we were dumb, drove 100 mph on the freeway with helmets.

My sons and husband drive logging trucks and use chain saws and fall trees for firewood and drive skidders and loaders.

It is all personal choice.

I had a patient in the ER recently who was riding his bike with a helmet and a dog ran in between the wheels of the bike, throwing the rider forward and onto his head hard and then his back. Broke his pelvis and gave him a nasty concussion with short-term memory loss and spent a week in the hospital.

Stuff happens.

steph

BeccaRN · Oct 5, 2004

I never let my kids ride a cycle or ATV growing up. Too scared. A family at our church let their 4 year old ride a four wheeler and thought it was great that he could do that at such a young age. One day he rode right out of the woods and into the path of a truck on the paved road. He died immediately. Family was heartbroken and wracked by guilt.

Our boys started out young on 4 wheelers but they were never left unsupervised while riding. They stayed in the yard and we were right there with them.