Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / E-Bikes: When Teenage Freedom Turns Dangerous

Transcript

E-Bikes: When Teenage Freedom Turns Dangerous · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: E bikes have been in the news. Police investigations are
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: underway to identify dozens of teenage thrill seekers who documented
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: their brazen e bike spree through Brisbane. This is a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: topic that won't go away and everybody is talking about it.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It was here the Jason's seventeen year old son Hudson
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: was thrown from the back of an e bike and killed.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: It just keeps happening. Sydney's Harbor Bridge has been taken
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: over by teenagers riding recklessly. Hello, welcome to the Happy
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Families podcast. Last week, about eight days ago, in fact,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: I jumped onto Facebook and made a post about the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: e bike Escoda scourge challenge difficulty that so many communities
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: are facing. What are we supposed to do about young
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: people on these machines? And let's just say that's a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: pretty big response. There are a lot of people with
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of opinions, and today on the pod, I
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: just want to break that down. I know it's about
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a week old, but this problem is not going away.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: It's remaining topical. I wanted to share some more ideas
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: that I've had as I've pondered the challenge more as
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: well as your ideas there were so many great comments,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: so many thoughtful people who really really shared important ideas.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: So that's all coming up next as we battle the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: e bike e scooter scourge in our communities on the
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Happy Families podcast. Stay with us. Hello, Welcome to the
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Happy Families Podcast, where you get real parenting solutions every
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: single day. This is Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast. I'm
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: doctor Justin Colson here with my wife Fro mum to
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: our six kids. Missus Happy Families, Kylie. We've managed to
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: escape this challenge, Kylie. We've got a couple of kids
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: that are the same age as a lot of the
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: girls and boys that are getting around on e bikes
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: and ee scooters. Not an issue for us. And there's
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: a simple reason that it's not an issue for us.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: We don't have one.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: We didn't buy one. Yep, solves the problem. Makes it
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: easy really well, it doesn't always make it easy, but
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: it certainly has made it a lot easier for us.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Today on the pod, I want to share a couple
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of ideas that I think are important around this now,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: for those of you who haven't seen it on Facebook.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I figured that the best thing that I could do
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and I'm so sorry, Kylex. It means that I'm going
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: to sort of dominate for a sec. I want to
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: read the article that I posted because it really gets
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the core of what's going on, and then I'll get
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: your reactions and share what people said on Facebook. Here
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: we go. I said, freedom, Yes, free for all, not
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: so much. Should kids be on e bikes? Should we
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: legislate to get them off the road? Are they a menace?
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Or is the whole kids being kids out on bikes
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: generally good thing that's being abused by a small minority.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: E bikes are one of the hottest topics right now.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: While politicians in the media are getting steamed up about it,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: this is actually a parenting issue. So let's talk about kids,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: e bikes and parenting. I want kids to live big, outdoor, risky,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: free range lives. I really do. For years, I've argued
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: against helicopter parenting, and I've advocated for more independence. I've
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: been quoted as saying our kids should be outside, touching
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: grass and doing at least one thing every week that
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: could land them in hospital. It's provocative, I know, but
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: it's also true. So the last thing that I want
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: to do is clutch my pearls about kids finally getting
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: out of the side, even if they are on e bikes,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: and honestly, part of me celebrates every time I see
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a group of teenagers racing around on e bikes instead
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: of slumped over their phones. I'll often shrug and say
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: to missus Happy Families, at least they're outside. They could
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: be on fortnight of roadblocks right now, and missus Happy
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Families usually gives me a mumhm and let's go. That's
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: about as far as the conversation goes when I bring
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: that up. But somewhere between helicopter parenting and letting kids
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: barrel down footpaths three up on unlicensed vehicles doing forty
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: five plus kilometers an hour, we've lost the plot on
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the intersection of freedom and responsibility. I should also know
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: it's illegal for an e bike to go faster than
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: twenty five k's an hour, but it's not enforced, and
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I've seen some going over eighty. So parents have sort
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: of said, hey, here's a cool toy, go outside, have fun,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: be independent. The kids have said game on party time.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: But freedom isn't the same as a free for all.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I'm more for testing your limits taking risks, pushing boundaries,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: But I'm not cool with treating pedestrians and road users
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: like NPCs, non player characters in your favorite video game.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Climbing trees, exploring kriegs, riding your bike further than you've
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: gone before. That's good risk, it builds capability. But blowing
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: through red lights, weaving through traffic, and scattering people on footpaths.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: That points to the thing parents need to teach kids most.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: It's what's missing, what it means to be considerate. You
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: can point to immature neurological development, you can talk about
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: a lack of executive function, lack of empathy. That's fine,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: throwing social expectations and status games, social media posts and
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: boast opportunities and other developmental excuses. But I'm not buying it.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: And why because plenty of kids get it. They ride safely,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: they do the right thing, they're considerate, and they should
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: not be punished because of the ones who are getting
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: it wrong. But by oh boy, there are a lot
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: of kids getting this very wrong. We've got kids doing
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: donuts on the Harbor Bridge. That's not okay, and they're
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: odd enough to know better. Actually, a lot of it
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: isn't Kids a lot of it are kids over eight,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: young adults doing this stuff anyway, The real issue was
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the adults who brought them the bikes, waved them off
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: and assumed that freedom would teach them consideration. That won't.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Before I go on, I just want to add I'm
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: being a little bit living dismissive here because I know
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of parents are tearing their hair out trying
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: to do the right things here. Anyway, What do we do?
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: How do we raise kids who know how to have
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: fun and be considerate, who test their limits without treating
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: everyone else as collateral damage. I'm genuinely asking because I
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: don't have all the answers here, But I know the
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: solution isn't another band, and it's not just shrugging and
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: saying our kids are we kids? Before your hand over
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the ear bike, have the conversation about what freedom actually requires.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Don't just say be careful or where your helmet? Discuss
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: who could you hurt? How do you ride when no
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: one's watching? What does it mean to share space with
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: people who might be more vulnerable than you. We do
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: have a problem here. More considerate kids who are being
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: taught by more considerate adults might be part of a
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: solution that works better than the punitive fines and confiscation approach.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts? So missus Happy Families A brief
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: response from you before we take a break and then
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: come back with our many responses on social media. When
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you hear that and you think about the problem, what
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: does it bring up for you?
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Because of where we live, e bikes are just everywhere.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: We're on the Sunshine Coast. We're in a flat part
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: of the Sunshine Coast about like a k back from
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the beach, so they are everywhere.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: And our local grocery store is about one hundred meters
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: from the beach, So any time I go down there,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I'll be inundated with maybe I don't know, ten or
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: twelve kids at a.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Time on the swamping the streets and the footpaths and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the like the entry and exit to and from the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: shopping center. Yeah, Like you're walking up and down the
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: ramp and there's e bikes trying to whiz past, and.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: There's this friction like you've shared very eloquently with feeling
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: grateful that they're out and about and doing you know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: kind of being physical, and you're in my space. You're
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: being a bit of a menace. But the ones that
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: really concern me is there are a handful of boys.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: It's the same boys, and we have a really really
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: big major road. It's three lanes on each side, and
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: they will be doing wheelies. These are completely deregulated because
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: they're keeping up with the traffic easily, and my biggest
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: concern is their safety and the safety of others around them.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: It just it scares the bajebis out of me because
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be the person who watches the downfall.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: You see this kid get hit by a truck or
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: a car or anyone, or be the one who hits them.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: That's right slid out for me.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Outside of the inconvenience, and there is always inconvenience when
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: the kids are involved, it is safety for everybody around them.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: What you said coming up after the break on the
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: subject of teenagers and e bikes, stay with us. We're back.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: This is The Happy Family's podcast. If you're enjoying the pod,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: we'd love it. If you'd like the pod, share the pod,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: leave a five star rating and review wherever you're listening
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: to the pod, and most important, share it with the
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: people around you. If it makes your family happy, or
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: if it gives you food for thought, provokes a few things,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: please press that forward button and share it with somebody
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: that you think would like it. It's how we get
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the pod out there and make a difference in the
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: lives of more people today. The conversation around kids and
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: e bikes lots and lots of comments on social media
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: about this one, which is why we decided to slow
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: it in today. First thing to differentiate here and highlight
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: is a lot of people say, well, we need to
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: differentiate between motorbikes. That is, these e bikes that have
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: a throttle. They've got foot pegs. The kids do a
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: couple of pedals and then they grab that throttle and
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: off they go, which is all the h here. Correct
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: versus versus what's known as pedal assist. So pedal assist
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: is where as you're pedaling, the bike gives you a
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: push like the motor gives you a bit of a nudge.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: And I want to go further with this. So when
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: you ride with me, you ride a normal road bike,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: but sometimes you also ride a bike that has that
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: pedal assist function. And the reason you do that is
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: because I'm riding my pushing at speeds sometimes north of
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: fifty k's an hour along the flat like I'm pedaling.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I'm pedaling really hard and there's just no way you
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: can ride with me. But when you are riding a
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: pedal assist bike, you have to be working your tail off,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: your heart rate is exploding so that you can chase
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: me and the pedal assist.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: It's an exercise. I mean, you're literally exercise.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: It's exercising, that's right. And I want to make the
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: argument that I think that pedal assist bikes should have
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: less regulation, not more, and they should be treated as
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: a completely different vehicle to these e bikes and escooters
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: because you use them for different purposes. And you just
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: don't see too many kids on pederal assist bikes who
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: are trying to ride forty or fifty k's an hour
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: while pedaling their absolute guts out because they're getting their
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: heart rate up and they're exercising totally different things. I
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: don't think the governments are going to do anything about that,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: and they're mis because people like you are penalized. You're
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: supposed to only be allowed to go twenty five k's
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: an hour on the e bike that we've bought you, sorry,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: on the pedal assist bike that we brought you so
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that you can ride with us. But if you're riding
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: twenty five k's now you can't even ride with me
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: on a regular ride, which kind of goes against the point. Anyway,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: that's an important distinction. We are talking in this conversation
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: specifically about the motorized bikes where you don't have to pedal,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: you just have to hold that throttle off you go. First.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Thing that came up a lot of times. So many
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: people said you shouldn't be allowed to have one until
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: you've got a license. You're on the road, you're riding around,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: need to have a license. Maybe maybe not about idea,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: because a lot of parents say, well, it's good for
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: the kids that they can get to them from work.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: It gives them that opportunity. Work often starts at fourteen
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: or fifteen for a lot of kids. If a license
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: thing isn't quite right. You're not in your head. You
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: like the idea, you think that sounds reasonable.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't be opposed to it, but our kids don't
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: have one.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, I got this one
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: came through and I think it's highlighting in a different
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: way something that you've already said at the moment, said
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: one parent. We are teaching our sixteen year olds to
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: drive a car. He's our third in four years, and
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: he has to look out for so much more than
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: my oldest only a few years ago. Yeah, it's terrifying
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: when a kid on a scooter a bike flies out
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: of nowhere at speed. My oldest drives a full drivers
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: generally a good and careful driver. I'm not saying he's perfect,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: but he's autistic and follows the rules, and he's told
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: us how he's nearly hit a scooter rider a few
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: times when they suddenly appear on the road or fly
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: through an intersection. My husband's been stopped at an intersection
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: and had a kid right into the side of the
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: car because he wasn't watching the cars and didn't stop
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: in time. Gave my husband a big fright. He's also
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: a nurse in the ED and has had to look
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: after kids who have been in accidents, in them and
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: on them. It's far from a pretty sight.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Not only that these kids, more times than not, they're
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: not wearing helmets like it's literally a motorbike and they're
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: going at speeds that it's just scary, there's no protection
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: and yeah, it just I feel physically ill thinking about
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: the ramifications. So something going wrong.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Jennifer Pickles jumped onto the Facebook page and said, we're
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: in favor of them. Our kids are sixteen and fourteen.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: They share one. They aren't without risks, but the benefits
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: of being off the screens and outside with their mates
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and being able to go places as great. Agree that
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: the way that some kids ride is unacceptably dangerous to
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: others than themselves, but this has been a good thing
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: for our family, so we got a fair mix. There's
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: a couple of others that are definitely worth highlighting. Here's
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: an angle that was a little bit different. This came
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: from Jen Courtney, who said, I generally agree with your comments. However,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: my daughter has a part time job. She purchased an
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: e bikes from a bike shop who assured her it
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: was legal. She had a great deal of freedom having
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: this bike. She didn't run into people or push them
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: off footpaths, but was often abused by pedestrians who didn't
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: like her on her bike. Thank goodness, she now has
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: her driver's license and car, which again she saved for
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and doesn't ride the ear bike anymore. But let's stop
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: lumping all the kids in the same basket. Use that
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: freedom well, And it did make me think the way
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: that people respond actually aggravates the situation quite often, it
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: makes them even more menacing. And when you've got kids
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: that are doing the right thing but they're still being
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: told off.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Well as road riders, you and I, I mean the
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: amount of times that we get abused for being on
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: the road because we're just an inconvenience in spite of
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: the fact that we have every right to be there
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: and we're not being menacing. We're literally just going about
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: our own business.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: The lack of education, I mean, people just hate people
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: on bikes, right drivers as a general rule.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, And we've had this conversation a handful of times,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: Like as a road cyclist, there is actually no safe
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: place to ride except for the middle of the road because.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: The middle of the lane.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, because to ride on a footpath means that
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: you put pedestrians at If.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: You're riding at thirty or forty k's now you can't
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: ride on the foot path. It's just no.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: But that's what I'm saying. Even shared bike paths. It's
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: really challenging when you've got cyclists who are riding at
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: a good speed, but then to ride on the side
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: of the road with drivers who are inconsiderate puts you
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: at so much risk.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: So kids are doing the wrong thing, but let's not
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: pretend that drivers are. I mean, this is both both
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: sides and what about doesn't progress arguments, but both sides
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: and what about? Right, let me read the last one.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: I want to read two more. I'm going to read
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the easy one first because I just love it when
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: these comments come through, like this one from Analysa, who
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: says solid perspective justin it's not really about e bikes
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: or phones, it's about parenting, the development of self control.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: And she just told me that I was awesome, So
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: an Lisa, I really appreciate that. But the one that
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I really want to point to right now and spend
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the end of our pod on comes from somebody who
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: insisted on being anonymous. We are not allowed to talk
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: about who this person is or where they're from. I'm
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: just going to read what they've said, and I'm going
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: to make it even more anonymous than it was when
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: they sent it through. They've said Hello, deep breath. Oh.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: By the way, this was an email. This did not
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: make it to the socials because they wanted to stay anonymous.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: My fifteen year old son has an ee bike. He
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: bought a conversion kit from Ali Baba with money he
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: had saved from birthdays and an occasional part time job.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: He sourced the frame, painted it, ordered footpegs, light bars
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: and more. He's not new to riding. He races in
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: mountain bike races and rides dirt bikes when we go camping.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: He knows how to ride and is experienced. We have
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: felt as parents quite helpless. He's been building and saving
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: for the bike. It's taken him eight months. The day
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: he got the bike rideable, he broke his toe stubbed it.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I was so happy. I would buy a few more
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: weeks before he could ride it. This was great, And
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: then one day I came home from work early. There
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: he was a passenger on a e bike doing seventy
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: k's an hour in the backstreets with no helmet. This
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: parent says, I lost my mind, screamed at him, screamed
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: at his mate. When talked to his mate's mum, they
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: thought I was upset because my son was in a
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: moonboot for his toe. Neither of them realized it was
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: about the danger of riding without a helmet at a minimum,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: which blows me away. Right here are these parents who
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: are like, oh, you're upset he was riding with his No. No,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: he's doing seventy k's without a helmet anyway. So some
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: parents are dead set, clueless. Let's be honest. Nevertheless, she says,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: our son clearly seeks out risk taking behavior, whether it
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: be mountain biking, swing off the rope at the local quarry.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: We can take his bike away tomorrow, but it won't
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: stop him making dangerous choices or jumping on a mate's bike.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: In grade six. We said he couldn't have TikTok, thought
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: that conversation was done in dusted until we found out
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: he had TikTok set up on a mate's device. We
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: talk openly about the risks of e bikes. He had
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a cousin the same age and her life last year.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: He's seen firsthand how death destroys a family in the community.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: It breaks my heart when I read this, she says.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: We give him opportunities to engage in thrill seeking behavior
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: in a safe manner competitions controlled dirt bike riding, weightboarding, snowboarding,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: so I don't have an argument either way. We talk
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: about how community is not looking to stamp out good fun,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: but rather how they're terrified someone's going to die in
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the likelihood of that happening, and how we're all just
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: desperate that it's not our child. I'm well aware his
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: brain is not mature enough to process all of this
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: and always make the right choices. So what do I do?
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Do I lock him up forever until he's twenty five.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I hate these bikes, but they're here. They'll always find
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: a way to unlock them and get them to go
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: way faster than they need. Instead of banning them, which
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: achieves nothing, how do we find a way to put
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: a structure around them and make it as safe as possible.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: For example, if you caught it on a knee bike
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: without a helmet appropriate protective clothing, you'll be fined. And
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: then she goes on to say a couple of other
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: things that I think are really really important, and then
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: she just says raising a teenage boy is so damned.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: And I read that and I just thought, this is
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: why this is such a wicked problem. Legislation is going
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: to fix it because enforcement is going to be patchy
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: at best. The only thing that we can do is
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: continue to teach our kids. And whether it's e bikes
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: or whether it's TikTok, or whether it's robe blogs, or whether.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: It's vaping or whatever, alcohol.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Dumb thing teenagers always have, and teenagers always will want
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: to take risks, post and boast, boost status, look good,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: or just chase the thrill because my goodness, it's so
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: much boundary push boundaries. That's what they do, and we
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: can't legislate against development. So my take on this is
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: let's do our very best to teach them. And I
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: think this is a mum who's getting it right for
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: what it's worth. And let's be a little less judgmental
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: of a bunch of the kids that are out there
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: doing this because most of them are just dumb kids
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: doing dumb things, because that's what a lot of kids do.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Let's be more considerate, more patient as drivers and community members,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: and let's just get these kids through this really tricky
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: stage because one day they'll grow up and they will
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: stop riding the ear bikes and they'll drive cars and
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: have red peaplates and green peaplates, and then we'll have
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: something new to complain about. The Happy Families podcast hopefully
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: gives you plenty to think about. Hopefully this was a
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: provocative one for you, Thanks so much for listening. It's
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: produced by Justin Rowland from Bridge Media. Mimhammond's provides admin
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: research and additional support, and for more info about this
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and other topics, visit us at happyfamilies dot com, dot
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a