Pausing Bikes

My 4 year old son C has been going on tons of bike rides as I have written about a lot recently. He loves going fast and going on this trail after we drop off his 6 year old sister E to school. Of course he goes super fast through the trail no matter what.

During the morning rush, there are usually tons of families that are doing drop offs. The trail is packed. I usually remind C to watch out and he hasn’t listened to that advice frequently. He never runs into anyone, but they have to pause to let him dash about and through the trail. I have to pause him and keep explaining why he shouldn’t do that and to be extra considerate. Again, he is never dangerous on the trail, but I don’t want other parents to worry about him accidentally bumping into them or their kids.

One morning this past week, C was zooming off to start on the trail, so I’m hustling to catch up. I see him paused at the top of this small hill and he told me he was waiting for the families to finish walking up the hill. He wanted everyone to be safe and I was so proud of him for doing that without me asking. I wasn’t even around him at the time he got to the top of that small hill.

Two families walk by and the hill was now cleared. C takes this as the green light to go and zooms off again. Now I’m chasing him and hustling back to the house to catch him. It’s a good way to do some cardio to start the day and I’m glad I have one less thing to worry about now that the lessons about being considerate on the trail have sunk in. It just takes constant (constant, and more constant) reminders on why things need to be a certain way. Eventually those reminders pay off.