Should 11 y.o. be allowed to cross 35mph street on bike?

[summer]

Can an 11 yr old cross the street?  Seriously???

[downtoearth]

I guess I'd have to know if the street had a cross-walk/signal where they could cross easily and if it was really busy. I lean toward, heck yes. But my 6 year old bikes home from school (about 8 blocks).

ETA: I'm surprised that the response turned this into a dig on the helicopter father and potential divorce.

[devonpow]

Is there a cross walk? I let my 8 year old cross busy/fast streets by himself but there are crosswalks and/or lights. He has to walk his bike across instead of riding .

If it's a 35 mph busy road with no crosswalks I wouldn't let myself cross it, lol

[wawa]

35 mph?? I...wut? Since when is 35 mph the hallmark of a street too scary to cross??

[summer]

Not knowing where they live and what it entails, I'm going to also sideeye the 11 yr old needing a phone in case he gets lost on the way home from school.   That's 5th or 6th grade, right?

[sfy]

Dude...this kid could be driving in 5 years, but he can't ride a bike across a normal city street? Then when? Am I the worst mother ever? Meh.

Jul 17, 2015 13:57:35 GMT -5 summer said:

Not knowing where they live and what it entails, I'm going to also sideeye the 11 yr old needing a phone in case he gets lost on the way home from school.   That's 5th or 6th grade, right?

Lol I was thinking that the summer school class might be at another school?  I hope so.  6th grade, usually. 

[knope2016]

Jul 17, 2015 13:58:08 GMT -5 sfy said:

Dude...this kid could be driving in 5 years, but he can't ride a bike across a normal city street? Then when? Am I the worst mother ever? Meh.

Jul 17, 2015 13:57:35 GMT -5 summer said:

Not knowing where they live and what it entails, I'm going to also sideeye the 11 yr old needing a phone in case he gets lost on the way home from school.   That's 5th or 6th grade, right?

Lol I was thinking that the summer school class might be at another school?  I hope so.  6th grade, usually. 

In some states, permits are allowed at age 14, so this kid could be driving in less than three years.  

[hopecounts]

I'm going with a typical 11 yr old and a typical 35 mph rd this should be fine.
Like previously stated this kid could be driving a car in 4-5 years he has to start somewhere.
He's taken a safety course and Mom (who I'm gonna assume is reasonable since this is reasonable) thinks he is responsible enough to do it.

[fumbalina]

I was crossing streets work that speed limit at 9 with my 6 year old brother in tow. I see nothing wrong with it. The only accident I ever saw was on a slower speed limit street with a speeding driver who was not watching the road.

[sushi]

That was considered the safe and slow street where I grew up. Lol

[moolarkey]

I drove a 15 year-old home that didn't know how to find her house. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I got us to her neighborhood and even then, from one of main entrances and she still couldn't tell me how to get to her house.

[summer]

Jul 17, 2015 15:03:49 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

I drove a 15 year-old home that didn't know how to find her house. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I got us to her neighborhood and even then, from one of main entrances and she still couldn't tell me how to get to her house.

[lg28]

We have an 11-year old girl down the street we are pondering hiring as a babysitter. I sure as hell hope that they could ride a bike across a busy road and figure it out.

[moolarkey]

Jul 17, 2015 15:09:09 GMT -5 summer said:

Jul 17, 2015 15:03:49 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

I drove a 15 year-old home that didn't know how to find her house. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I got us to her neighborhood and even then, from one of main entrances and she still couldn't tell me how to get to her house.

That's the look I had. We had to call her mom at work to get directions. 

[moolarkey]

Jul 17, 2015 15:14:50 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

Jul 17, 2015 15:03:49 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

I drove a 15 year-old home that didn't know how to find her house. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I got us to her neighborhood and even then, from one of main entrances and she still couldn't tell me how to get to her house.

This is the kind of child* that grows up and spends $90K of tuition money on clothes and trips and stuff and then looks around mad when the money is gone wondering why her parents didn't teach her how to budget. 

*this assumes this child isn't special needs 

She was not special needs. Mom found excuses for everything this kid did. Nothing has ever been her daughter's fault, etc.  The daughter had a car accident at 17, mom told all of us they tested her phone and found she was not using it at time of accident. She was seriously injured.  A couple years later, on the anniversary of the accident mom posted a don't text & drive message and talked about the accident her daughter was in due to texting. I'm guessing she waited until some statue of limitations for her daughter to be charged had passed and is why she waited years to post it. I absolutely do believe her daughter was texting.

[wawa]

Jul 17, 2015 15:14:50 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

Jul 17, 2015 15:03:49 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

I drove a 15 year-old home that didn't know how to find her house. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I got us to her neighborhood and even then, from one of main entrances and she still couldn't tell me how to get to her house.

This is the kind of child* that grows up and spends $90K of tuition money on clothes and trips and stuff and then looks around mad when the money is gone wondering why her parents didn't teach her how to budget. 

*this assumes this child isn't special needs 

I was just about to write a post about how this totally would have been me at 15.  So now I'm writing it anyway, but I'm REALLY SUPER EMBARASSED about it.

I was terrible at navigating until I started driving myself.  One of my mom's friends was watching us for a few days once and she had to drive me to school....I had to direct her to follow the 45 minute bus route instead of taking the direct route (30 minutes) because I couldn't be sure that I'd remember all the turns otherwise.

I had no issues budgeting my college money though.  You know...for the record.

[laurenpetro]

Jul 17, 2015 15:14:50 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

Jul 17, 2015 15:03:49 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

I drove a 15 year-old home that didn't know how to find her house. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I got us to her neighborhood and even then, from one of main entrances and she still couldn't tell me how to get to her house.

This is the kind of child* that grows up and spends $90K of tuition money on clothes and trips and stuff and then looks around mad when the money is gone wondering why her parents didn't teach her how to budget. 

*this assumes this child isn't special needs 

i'm pretty sure B could get himself home and he's 4.    

[alleinesein]

I guess my parents didn't care if I got turned into a road pancake. I rode my bike on streets with 45 mph and 50 mph speed limits when I was that age. My best friend and I would ride our bikes to her sisters place in the next town which was 7 miles away.

[hopecounts]

Jul 17, 2015 15:12:31 GMT -5 lg28 said:

We have an 11-year old girl down the street we are pondering hiring as a babysitter. I sure as hell hope that they could ride a bike across a busy road and figure it out.

Yep, I was babysitting at that age. One of my main families lived in the neighborhood across from ours I absolutely rode my bike over there across a 40 mph road with no difficulties. 

It's no wonder these kids have issues with real life when they hit college/first jobs. 
They haven't been allowed to do age appropriate skills and then are thrown into the gauntlet of real life.

[textbookcase]

Jul 17, 2015 15:12:31 GMT -5 lg28 said:

We have an 11-year old girl down the street we are pondering hiring as a babysitter. I sure as hell hope that they could ride a bike across a busy road and figure it out.

Totally! My 11-year old started babysitting this year. I have no qualms about her crossing a street (lol).


This is crazy. How did we all survive childhood, riding our bikes willy-nilly down those busy roads, sans helmet?!

[Deleted]

Jul 17, 2015 15:19:41 GMT -5 wawa said:

Jul 17, 2015 15:14:50 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

This is the kind of child* that grows up and spends $90K of tuition money on clothes and trips and stuff and then looks around mad when the money is gone wondering why her parents didn't teach her how to budget. 

*this assumes this child isn't special needs 

I was just about to write a post about how this totally would have been me at 15.  So now I'm writing it anyway, but I'm REALLY SUPER EMBARASSED about it.

I was terrible at navigating until I started driving myself.  One of my mom's friends was watching us for a few days once and she had to drive me to school....I had to direct her to follow the 45 minute bus route instead of taking the direct route (30 minutes) because I couldn't be sure that I'd remember all the turns otherwise.

I had no issues budgeting my college money though.  You know...for the record.

My sister and I are the same. Both below average sense of direction.

I give the best directions though because I've gotten used to paying attention while driving.

[curmudgeon]

When my brother was 7 he was hit by a car riding his bike across a (probably 35 mph) road. This was a rural-ish area, coming off a forested trail onto the road right after a blind corner. He's lucky, he recovered well.

That said, if my daughter could not cross a 35 mph road by 11, I will have failed as a parent. Does the kid know how to use crosswalks? How to cross streets safely? Yes? Then let the kid bike home. I am the overprotective parent in my relationship and still believe that by 11 a kid should be learning how to navigate the world. You can't prevent everything, but they have to learn how to deal with the world on their own (to certain degree).

[lolobeth802]

You know, normally I don't hesitate about stuff like this. My DS was 8/9 when he started riding his bike to school. But the fact that people now text and drive, are SUPER distracted and just plain idiots while driving freaks me the fuck out now. Every time I see an erratic driver, they're texting! This shit wasn't around when we were kids, so I feel it's more of concern now for anyone riding a bike versus just a kid.

[Deleted]

Wait, let me ask my 8yr old who can bike across intersections without assistance...

[meshaliuknits]

Jul 17, 2015 15:19:41 GMT -5 wawa said:

Jul 17, 2015 15:14:50 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

This is the kind of child* that grows up and spends $90K of tuition money on clothes and trips and stuff and then looks around mad when the money is gone wondering why her parents didn't teach her how to budget. 

*this assumes this child isn't special needs 

I was just about to write a post about how this totally would have been me at 15.  So now I'm writing it anyway, but I'm REALLY SUPER EMBARASSED about it.

I was terrible at navigating until I started driving myself.  One of my mom's friends was watching us for a few days once and she had to drive me to school....I had to direct her to follow the 45 minute bus route instead of taking the direct route (30 minutes) because I couldn't be sure that I'd remember all the turns otherwise.

I had no issues budgeting my college money though.  You know...for the record.

I had a hard time giving directions at that age b/c I navigated by landmark & not street name. Still do mostly, but I know to pay attention to street signs.

[sushi]

Jul 18, 2015 7:11:08 GMT -5 lolobeth802 said:

You know, normally I don't hesitate about stuff like this. My DS was 8/9 when he started riding his bike to school. But the fact that people now text and drive, are SUPER distracted and just plain idiots while driving freaks me the fuck out now. Every time I see an erratic driver, they're texting! This shit wasn't around when we were kids, so I feel it's more of concern now for anyone riding a bike versus just a kid.

I grew up around retirees, so I really don't think it's that different.

[msmerymac]

Supposedly my mom got lost on a walk in the subdivision behind my grandparents' house when I was 2 or 3, but I knew how to get home.

Anyway, if the 11 year old would have to jaywalk either on foot or bike... Eh. Maybe not. Stop light? Cross walk? Sure.

And really, if the streets around them are, what, 20-25 mph, that's not too much less than 35 and I also guarantee that people routinely drive 30-35 anyway.

[cville]

I can't get past someone voluntarily wiping asses for one nanosecond longer than necessary.

[summer]

Jul 18, 2015 21:41:39 GMT -5 cville said:

I can't get past someone voluntarily wiping asses for one nanosecond longer than necessary.

Seriously, child. If your bum is itchy, then you need to wipe again. I'm not doing it for you.

[kadams767]

I'm pretty sure the speed limit on the suburban residential streets that I grew up on is 30mph. Where the heck does this person live that 35mph is a busy and potentially dangerous street for an 11 year old to cross?! Also, there is no way in hell that this kid hasn't already crossed this street a million times over if he rides his bike at all. There comes a point in time when kids no longer just ride their bikes around the block over and over again and this kid reached that point about 4 years ago.