Pushy parents - a danger to kids.
Well the ones I saw today were
I went with the dogs to a moto-x practice today, just planning on going for half a day, starting at seven
, well it turned out that there wasn't enough marshalls for the day, so me and the dogs volunteered to marshall the beginner track, well it was all going great, and tbh most of the day there was only people that I knew, my two brothers (five and seven) and a family friends young boy (eleven), and they were pottering about at whatever speed they were wanting to go, and were happy, however after lunch a few more people came down, and one group of them was awful, they had brought their son a bike, and it was his first go on it, the track was a great one to practice on, it was just a B shape, the corners were wide, and it had a straight, everything was going well, I was also stood at one end with the flags, well this one boy got one, like I said it was his first go (I know this as they said it plenty of times) and from the minute they got on they were shouting at him, 'hurry **** up' 'you slow *******', 'get a move on, or we'll sell your bike and leave you here', I had to tell them on more then one occaision to be quiet, or leave, and they settled down, but the boy was petrified, I couldn't speak to him, he wouldn't slow down
he crashed out a few times, as he had no confidence in the bike, but was trying to go fast to please him, and then when another kid fell I put up the yellow flag, and they shouted 'stop you ******* *******' at him, and the poor boy immediatly slammed on the brakes, and went flying into a bale of straw, at this point I made them leave, it was a track where young people were, and the way that they were behaving, and imtemidating their son was not only dangerous and upsetting to him, but to everybody else going round, and I told them that they can come back once they calm down.
A few hours later they did come back, the boy went back on the track, but they behaved even worse, at this point they were not only shouting abuse at their son, but my five year old brother, saying he shouldn't be on the track as he was so slow, so at this point I got the owner down, and they had to leave, thankfully JJ never heard them, as he was concentrating on riding.
The thing is though that there is other people like this, theres no denying that this sport is dangerous, and a child has to be confident in what they are doing, and have build up the level of their ability to ride before going fast, but so many people expect their children to go top speed, one was a five year old who was put on a pit bike, and expected to go round the track that the adults are going round, although more able riders can do this, its not fair to allow such a young rider who has limited confidence to do such a thing, when there could be thirty other riders, falling off is scary enough to them, let alone when there is other people still going past them, so what are people thinking, and many of the parents don't even ride either
but in doing the things that they are doing and how they behave they are increasing the chances of their children getting hurt, and IMO its at their own hands, and they are responsible, but they don't see as that, its so sad
I mean just today with the adults there was one guy taken off in a ambulance, and another taken in a air ambulance, does that not hit home as to how dangerous it is?? Espcially as many buy their children powerful bikes already, and then make them even faster, the children have no idea how to control most of them in many cases, but when you see people who slow the bikes down, the children are more confident, and ride better, and because of this often faster anyway.
In saying this though I am not agaisn't children riding bikes, as long as safety is taken into consideration, as many have fun, and they learn and gain so much from it, but I do have a problem with many of the parents of these children.