Reasons to let your child ride to school

I just checked my email and found I had received an email inviting me to share an article with my readers. I read the title of the article quickly and then re-read it because I thought I must have read it wrong, then I thought it must be some sort of play on words and clicked the link to read it. The title is "10 Reasons to Not Let Your Child Ride His Bike to School". 

I read the article and found it contained what I would consider common-sense notions mixed with a dash of fear-mongering. Obviously, as parents we all have to know our children and their limits, we want to protect them, but it's a fine line to know how we should both guard them against imminent and possible dangers, whilst encouraging them to be confident and outgoing in the world.

If you want to read the article here is the LINK. I encourage you to make up your own mind, but also to consider the possibility that rather than accept the possible fears of a capable child riding to school, we fight to make those fears unfounded. 

By example, I must mention my friend Sarah, here in Bristol. When walking to school with her children and other parents she felt intimidated and rightfully so, by large semi-articulated lorries/trucks from a local company that would drive the narrow streets at excessive speed but within the limits allowed by law. Rather than decide to drive to school or walk a longer and less convenient route, Sarah contacted the companies that owned the offending semis and asked them to consider the safety of children walking to school and lower their speeds. As a result of Sarah's work, the companies announced that they would enforce their own speed limit, to all their drivers within the company in any roads leading to the primary school. 

As parents I feel it is our duty to challenge what is acceptable by law and question the social norm. Rather than saying "It's not safe for my child to walk or ride to school", let us question why isn't it safe for my child to walk or ride to school? 

I have heard of cases where parents have been fined for letting a child walk or cycle to school and in some places children are simply not allowed to arrive at school on foot. What kind of a ridiculous world do we live in where these judgements are not challenged? If a road is not safe enough for a capable child to ride to school in a competent manner, then the fault lies not with the child, nor with the child's parents, but with the officials residing over that area for not enforcing a persons right to access public roads. Obviously I'm not saying parents should let any child cycle on any road. We should utilize common sense to ensure their safety, but we should also question the world's problems and try to fix the fixable.


Anyway, that is my tangent for the day, always happy to share! What is your opinion?


-L

P.S.


I responded as below:

Hi XXXXX,

Thank you for your email, I honestly find the tone of the article to not be of my own mind and therefore wouldn't be able to post it on my blog. It shows cycling in a mindset of fear and bicycles are not scary. Children manage to ride to school all over the world with the assistance of their parents or without, as common sense dictates. Rather than installing fear, I would encourage parents to ride with their children and enjoy the added family time, health and safety over riding in a car which is statistically more dangerous- that would be an article I would be happy to post.

Lindsay

Unrequited Love In The U.K.

Last Thursday was an utterly miserable day, we finally met with our immigration lawyer. I'd been trying to get assistance from two lawyers that work with low income households since November, but neither had worked out until now- so off we go to Bristol, looking forward to getting some idea of what we need to do to get Kyle in a position where he can work, as he is our main bread winner and our savings are dwindled and gone. We'd heard that we would probably have an easy case as we've been married for 7 years, together for 10 and oh yes, we have a son together, so we hardly fit the profile of a convenience marriage!

One of the first things we were enlightened to was that the government expects us to live elsewhere unless I can fulfil a high wage job to support us both, that just because I'm British it doesn't mean I can live here with my family and that if we CAN live in America then we should return there, as "you don't get to choose where you live". I wish I could say it was a complete shock, but after dealing with the wrong side of immigration for the majority of my life, its really not. I guess I just expected more common sense from the government...OK you can laugh now, that was my first mistake. My second was thinking that our case would be considered on a compassionate grounds, as we don't want to abuse any systems or government funds, we simply want to work and live in a country where 2 of us have citizenship, and the other is a spouse and father to two British Citizens.

Our lawyer, who was very nice, went on to tell us there was hope and we could accomplish our goal, but it would take lots of money, lots of time, lots of British Bureaucracy and most likely a few years or more of not living as a family, but rather being separated by 1000's of miles and 1000's of pounds/dollars.

This isn't the kind of thing where you say "oh, my bad, we'll just forget that idea". I mean I'm not being funny when I say I might be physically allergic to America, I break out in hives just thinking about moving back there. I realize that may be slightly offensive to some people, but my American experience is likely not the same as yours. Mine involved being dragged there at 13 years old and having my mother join a cult pretty much the week we landed, we left behind a lovely house in Shrewsbury, England, and  I was 17 before I ever lived in an American house- the 5 years between we were homeless, roaming 22 states in all, with crazy religious people.

Now back to last Thursday, where was I?

Oh yeah, the lawyer pretty much dashed our hopes and dreams and then told us what would become our ray of hope. She told us that as I'm European, I can go live and work in any other European country with my family, and that as long as I work, so can Kyle. Brilliant! What a concept, that people should be able to bring their family, work, live, pay taxes and contribute to a society they believe in! Of course this news was great, BUT I really wish we'd have heard it before we spent all our savings moving to England, talk about a royal F*** Up.

So now we have to move to Europe (in the next 8 weeks, before Kyle's visa runs out) and as neither of us speak much in the way of a foreign language, our thoughts are either Ireland (English speaking) or the Netherlands (Lots of English Speaking). Apparently after we've lived in another European country for 12 months we can move back to England and Kyle can work the next day...it's some kind of ridiculous loophole. But to be honest as much as I love England, it can shove off with it's unrequited love, we'd much rather live in the Netherlands or Ireland...or France...or Spain...or wherever opportunity and a hope of stability take us. We're willing to work hard for what we want in life, we always have done, but it's going to take a bloody miracle this time.

I spent 2 days being heartbroken and today being pissed off.  Tomorrow I start trying to make magic happen. We have one more asset to sell, it's a green Boda Boda. Then we have to find some work and a temporary place to live in any European country, then we have to get there and in the mean time we have to survive. I just passed 40,000 views on this blog and a lot of them happen in Europe, so if you know of anyone looking for one or two people to do some work for them let us know! If you can think of someone who might have a temporary roof they can place over our heads let us know! We're pretty talented if I do say so myself, here's a list of what we've done with some success in the past:

Office Manager
Personal Banker / Loan Officer
Hotel Operations
Sandwich Shop Manager
Radio Personality 
Bistro Manager
Graphic Designer
Sales Person
Logistics
Nanny
Core Driller
Barista
Pizza Delivery Person
Cook and Cleaner
Gardener
Dressage Horse Trainer & Stable Worker
Guitar player and singer
Cocktail Waitress
Medical Herb Distributor
Cult Member
Blog Writer

Can you guess which jobs were mine and which were Kyles?

Got any great ideas to share, a little advice, an option we might not have thought of?
Email me: youaintgotjack@yahoo.com

Thanks for reading! L

A crocodile.

This week I heard the sad news that a little boy with a cheeky grin and blond locks, a little older than my own Jack, passed away from childhood leukaemia. I never met him, but had the privilege to know him through the blog that his Mummy keeps. In the past when I've lost someone it always strikes me how the world simply keeps moving making no acknowledgement of their absence.

In honour of Caemon, the little crocodile, my world paused a moment this week.

If you would like hear more about Caemon and his Mums, please visit "C is for Crocodile".

Is it February already?

It's been hard to write lately, I lack motivation to add anything to my current work load, which already has me at my wits end. I've never felt like it was time to pack it in before, but recently I have been considering letting the blog end here and start up again with a fresh coat of paint after the stress boils over.

But then again, it would seem a terrible shame to finish something that has changed my life so much...so I guess I won't. I'd better keep writing.

Some big news...I start a very part time job next week, which will be a good thing. It will be my first job since before Jack arrived and I'm petrified.

I'm trying to put a positive spin on the next piece of news, because negatively thinking about it makes me well up in tears. We have been suffering in our carfreedom a little, because only the Boda Boda could fit on the train and as we're living in a little village the train is our life line to civilization...so we had to make a difficult decision and sell the Mundo. It happened a lot quicker than I was expecting, we realized it was necessary to get us more mobile and we can't afford numerous bikes in our current financial situation, so it had to go. The good news is the couple that bought it are going to put it to great use with their 2 children, so whilst I did shed tears, I felt reassured by their smiling faces that the Mundo is off to convert the masses in London.

I'm really hoping things start to get easier soon, I don't feel like I've relaxed since June of last year. Moving is so hard, facing a regular work week with health problems is overwhelming, knowing you're not going to be there 24/7 for your little one creates sadness and guilt,  selling the Mundo was hard....I miss my dog, and my family too of course. I think my positivity tank is on empty tonight, but I will write more when it's full again.

Day 9 and the bus ride from hell

Right. So I didn't ride my bike today, but I do have a semi-decent excuse...

Today we woke up bright and early to attend an appointment in the neighbouring town of Clevedon, it was a tough morning as no one had slept well but we made it out the door in time to make our bus, only to get a call that it was rescheduled on the way to the station. All that fuss and work trying to make an appointment only to have it cancelled was a little frustrating so we decided to catch the bus anyway and make the most of the day, by trying to find a place for my Mum to live, as she arrives next week.
We stayed busy until early afternoon, then stopped at the grocery shop, grabbed some food and headed to the bus stop, but we'd missed our bus and had a wait of about an hour and a half ahead of us. Usually we would go for a walk or find something to keep us busy but today our push chair (stroller) decided to give up the ghost, so less walking was better as it was terribly hard work to push. We thought it would be nicer to spend two hours on a heated bus, than 1.5 hours in the cold waiting, so we jumped the bus on the opposite route and went sight-seeing. This was an excellent plan until Jack started complaining about "water in my belly", it was a very twisty, narrow road and I was wondering if he was trying to explain the feeling of nausea to us, when he started throwing up, all over himself and me.
We made it home about 40 minutes later, reeking to the high heavens, by this time it was about 7pm and my priorities lay with comforting a very miserable little boy.  I was thankful today for the kindness of strangers as our driver and fellow passengers were all very nice and helpful, helping to keep Jack entertained and providing every spare tissue available. Hopefully tonight we all get a good sleep as the appointment is rescheduled for tomorrow.

Day 7 & 8 of 31 - Bicycle Jewelry?

Yesterday's ride was a destination trip to my Doctor's office, today I will be cycling down to the R.S.P.C.A. charity shop to volunteer a few hours, both short trips, but they are still helping me get in the habit of daily riding which is awesome.

Kyle and I have been playing around with the idea of creating bicycle inspired jewellery, we can make these using silver, copper or gold coloured wire, with lovely semi-precious stones and each one would be a handmade original. I have some more to share too, but ran out of time today. Your thoughts?

Day 6 - All aboard the Strawberry Line

The entrance to the Strawberry Line.

Day six and I finally got to see the Strawberry Line, even today in drab overcast conditions it was a thing of beauty and we had a lovely time. It's part of the National Cycle Network which spans the U.K. with 14,000 miles of pathways selected for cycling and walking routes, it was officially created in 1995 with a grant from a national lottery. Sustrans started right here in Bristol in 1977 and they have a lot of worthwhile projects to encourage cycling, healthy neighbourhoods and green spaces.

Sheep grazing in the fields, it will be especially nice in lambing season to see all the babies playing.

Today we only did a short part of the Strawberry Line, which starts here in Yatton about a block from our front door, I am completely hooked! It was still a little muddy which isn't surprising considering Britain just enjoyed it's second wettest year since records began. In some spots it was very muddy but we made it through without having to get too dirty, I know mud is half the fun for some people, but they probably don't have sleeping toddlers on the back.

As a practical solution to sleeping toddlers in car and bike seats has yet to be invented, I used my shirt to cradle the edge of Jack's helmet so he had some neck support. It actually works surprisingly well and if he wakes up he can lean back and push it off easily, but it eliminates his head from jerking about madly and possibly straining his neck.

There were a lot of other families out enjoying their day today, great to see so many kids cycling and riding on the back of their parent's bikes.

Next weekend I want to get a little further down the line, there are numerous picnic opportunities, coffee shops and villages along the way so it would be nice to make a day of it. We headed back shortly after Jack fell asleep, made a stop at the Strawberry Line Cafe to grab a slice of Victoria Sponge cake I'd seen mention of on Facebook earlier in the day and then headed home for a hot cuppa tea. The Victoria Sponge cake was delicious by the way, if you are local go grab a slice! Glad we had a lovely ride today, hopefully another one is in the near future.