The past couple of weeks have been a mix of vacation and getting reading for the new school year. In the downtime, I have been writing a little bit, but I keep finding myself side tracked after a while. That happens when there is a bunch of stuff to do.
Bike Commuters has a great post about getting off your duff and walking/biking to school. These types of plea often result in someone saying that children can walk/bike to school because of a busy road. When I was in middle school, I rode a bus because the only way to get to school was to go down a state route.
As most middle schoolers do, I ended up getting a detention. I think it was for throwing paper in the classroom, but that really is not that important. When I was dismissed from the detention, I grabbed my stuff and began to walk out the door. Ms. G., the teacher, stopped me and asked me where I was going. I told her that my dad was making me walk home as a punishment. Ms. G. was shocked that someone could be so mean as to make a middle school kid walk home. Ms. G. got on the telephone with my dad and said told him to pick me up. She told him how dangerous it was to have me walking.
My dad lost the debate with Ms. G. He would have to pick me up. I was conflicted. I was getting out of having to walk home, but my dad was the master of creative punishments.
When my dad showed up, I opened the door to hop in his truck. He looked at me and asked, "What are you doing?" I stared for a second. He continued, "You punishment is that you have to walk home, get walking." He turned to Ms. G. and promised to keep me safe.
I walked the four miles to my house that day. My dad drove behind me the entire way.
4 comments:
I bike with my kids to their schools. My son's school is about 4 miles away. I don't mind if other people don't bike, but when they try to tell ME I'm being "unsafe" it irritates me, since I don't preach to them about my various reasons (environmental, economical, personal health, safety, enjoyment) that I bike.
When I was thinking about bringing my daughter to school with me, many people told me I would have to quit biking to school. I planned to drive my daughter half way, the ride the very safe last couple of miles. Many people were appalled that I would even think of putting a kid on the road with the cars.
Honestly... I feel safer with the trailer or the trail-a-bike. Other people pay much more attention when a child is involved.
Good for Dad. I would've done the same.
Your dad sounds pretty awesome. Him following you home the whole way is really touching.
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