August 9, 2000

Last week I was watching a young kid rolling down the street on his skateboard. I thought he was going pretty fast for a level run. And when I looked a little closer I saw the reason for his speed. He had an engine on his skateboard and he was ready to run.

The skateboard with the engine reminded me of the times when I was working in the schools and I became involved with kids and their parents negotiating about motorized dirt bikes. Our town had a lot of space then and there were a lot of dirt bike trails for the kids. And the motorized dirt bikes were a hot issues for the kids. I can remember trying to help middle school kids and their parents as they tried to deal with the issue of motorized dirt bikes.

After a few experiences with this issue I could see a familiar pattern. The boy would be pleading his case for the dirt bike. And the parents were kind of torn between trying to let their child have something his friends had and also protecting him from being hurt.

I can remember the promises and the begging. "Please Mom. I promise not to ride on the street. Please. I promise I wont speed. Please. I promise I’ll take good care of the dirt bike. Just give me a chance. All the other kids have one. Why can’t I?"

The parent would look at me and I would play the role of the rational observer. I had a technique where I would ask the parent to think about going to the bank for a loan. I would ask the parent how the loan official would determine if you were ready for a loan. Then the parent would talk about having a credit check to see if they were OK for the loan. And the credit check was a way of determining your past financial responsibility. And If you had a positive record of financial responsibility you got the loan. But if you had a record of financial irresponsibility you didn’t get the loan.

Then I would suggest that we do a responsibility credit check on the child. I would ask about the child’s past record of responsibility. How responsible has this child been around the house with his chores? How responsible is he with his school work? How responsible is he with his bicycle? How responsible is he with respecting rules? How well does he make reasonable decisions? How well does he keep his promises? Would you feel comfortable being a passenger on a dirt bike with him at the wheel?

Frequently the parents would ask me what I thought was best. And I would usually say that if the child had demonstrated appropriate responsibility in the past he was a good bet to continue with that responsibility. But if he track record for responsibility was poor he would also be a good bet to continue with his lack of responsibility.

If the child had demonstrated a record of responsibility and the parent felt comfortable with the child having a motorized dirt bike, I would then ask about the plan for paying for the dirt bike. And I would suggest that if a child were really ready to take on the responsibility of something like a dirt bike he should also be ready to pay for all of it or a good part it.

Having to pay for a dirt bike would usually mean delaying the purchase of the bike while the child earned some money. And the time spent working for the money would give the child some time to think about how important this bike really was to him.

These were not black and white issues. And it wasn’t an easy decision to make.

Kids need to take the training wheels off their bikes when they are ready. And you can inhibit their growth by being over-protective. But parents also have a responsibility to make sure their kids don’t get into dangerous situations where they could be hurt.

I guess I get a little nervous when I see young kids zipping around town on motorized wheels. I think it’s kind of going against Mother Nature’s rule. Mother Nature says that kids should go only as fast as their legs can carry them. And then they will stay in their own safe speed zone.

But when young kids get engines on their wheels they can easily get out of their safe speed zone. So the kids who do get on those motorized wheels should be the ones who are responsible and have the ability to make wise decisions.

That way these kids won’t hurt you or me—or themselves.