By Kevin Gaudet
Don’t Toronto teachers have better things to do than call me at home to tell me they are afraid that my 8 and 10 year old kids aren’t safe riding their bikes to school? Isn’t it my job to make that decision, not theirs?
This all came to a head for me when a teacher from my children’s school called me at home. Most parent know the fear – the phone rings and the ID shows it is the school calling. Instant fear grips you – has one of the kids had a compound fracture or uncontrollable bleeding from falling off the padded and politically-correct monkey bars?
No, this time, one teacher at a school in Toronto called to say she saw my kids biking to school and was afraid they weren’t safe. If it ended there it might have been OK. When I thanked her for calling and sharing her opinion she got even snarkier and said, “it is not an opinion. It is a fact. They are not safe. If they were my kids….”. This is when I became unglued. I, not so politely, responded “thank God they are NOT your kids, so mind your own damned business!”
Do you remember the fun of riding your bike to school? I do. Sadly, today, too many busy-body helicopter teachers and parents keep our kids from having the same fun. “It’s not safe”, they whine as they take time out from their Big Mac and planning a new curriculum to fight childhood obesity. Clearly, the irony is lost on them. It is high time to take the chains off our kids and put them back on their bikes!
I remember riding my bike to school with my twin sister when I was in grade 1 in Mississauga. My biggest fear was that the kids at the Protestant school would finally develop good enough aim to hit us Catholic school kids with the rocks they threw.
My kids don’t ride on a highway but on local roads. I rode with them to school for a week before letting them go on their own. My oldest is in grade 4 for goodness sake. If we don’t let them explore, learn, fail, fall and take some risks they will be in tough when they grow up and experience the vagaries of ‘the real world’. Teachers, listen up: let them be kids, but NOT in a bubble! You teach. I’ll parent. And I say, let them ride their bikes.
Kevin Gaudet, Federal/Ontario Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Winter and summer camping are among Kevin’s favourite past times. He also volunteers as a Scout Leader with Scouts Canada. Kevin is fluent in French and English. He and his wife, Makiko, make their home in Toronto. Kevin has three children.
