LotteBum wrote:
>
> I've been doing some research on transporting children on bikes, and the
> pros and cons of rear and front mounted seats versus trailers. The
> general consensus, I'm finding, is that trailers are the way to go.
>
> My problem, however, is that most say you should not use these for
> child carrying purposes until the child is 12 months old, as they run
> the risk of suffering from shaken baby syndrome prior to this. I find
> this absurd. Are people supposed to walk or drive their children
> around for a whole year?
>
> Does anyone have any advice regarding this?
>
> Cheers,
> Lotte
>
> --
> LotteBum
Yesterday I must have ridden past several parents with kiddy trailers
with the younger set sometimes pedling along with mum or dad.
The experience of cycling is thus indelibly imprinted on the young minds
at an early age.
Thus the children learn the wonders of cheap travel's motion but without
the
worry and drama of having to be steered carefully to prevent crashes
with everyone else using the
cycle paths.
Dad and mum get to have their sunday ride without the work and tantrum
filled efforts of child guidance.
I have a photo taken from the 1930s with a young couple both on a tandem
with their daughter of about 5
sitting on a little saddle at the rear, so its not as if this business
of coping with children
when you are a cyclist hasn't been thought about before.
If I'd ever been a dad I wouldn't have put a child on behind me until I
though the child was ready,
or likely to be injured all too easily if I ever had a prang. Here in
Oz,
women do not work in the fields, and don't wrap their kids up and put
them on their backs
as they do in Africa. We tend to engage in play without pain or
excessive challenges,
and start younger ones off in life under entirely safe circumstances.
So I guess most parents would have to walk or drive their children
around for a whole year.
Not only that, parents are expected to drive their kids around until
said child either
gets his/her first bicycle, or a car at about age 17, so you should be
prepared for a never ending
effort of care, protection, and education and transport of children
until they are independant,
and then your spirit of caring would proceed until you die before them
some 40 years after they were born. Its called loving thy child, and
this challenges
parents, and success in this challenge is not always guranteed.
When I passed two young families yesterday while out cycling, the older
kids rode their own bikes, while
younger ones were trailed. Seems pretty sensible to me.
I sometimes think such parents deserve a medal for their efforts!
Patrick Turner.