Bad Mommy Moment (BMM) #1: To Ride or Not to Ride

I will be writing an occasional series of BMM posts.  These "Bad Mommy Moments" are times when I may not have made the best choice to do (or not) do something.

I will confess.
I will reveal.

All in the hopes that you will do something different, or at least find some humor in the craziness of non-perfect parenting!

BMM #1: To Ride or Not to Ride

Confession:  I have never taught my daughter how to ride a bike!

She is 14 years old,

about to enter high school, 

soon will be eligible for a driver's permit,

but can not ride a bicycle.  

At least not very well.  OK, not really at all.

I admit, this is a Bad Mommy Moment.

EVERYONE should be able to ride a bicycle!

Just like (in my opinion) everyone should be able to SWIM and DRIVE a manual, stick-shift car.  (I mean, what if you fall off a boat or have to drive a car in any other country someday?)

Unless someone has a medical reason that makes it impossible to ride a bicycle, it's ridiculous not to.  

In fact it should be a law.

Consider this:  

If you are traveling in a foreign land, have no car, no cell service, and no money.  You can still borrow a bicycle and get to your destination.  (Where you hopefully have stashed a credit card and some common sense.)

Or, closer to home, if you're a college student with a tiny apartment 3 miles from campus and don't own a car, you can ride a bike to class.  It's cheaper and great exercise!

There are SO many compelling reasons to teach a child how to ride a bike, it's amazing that ANYONE wouldn't.

So why didn't I?

I thought about it.

I even tried.  A little.

We bought Juliana a pink bike with a basket and bell.  Very cute!

We pushed her around and around.  Up hill and down.

But we live on a steep hill and Juliana never wanted to go it alone.

The plain truth is that I was just too LAZY to pack up the bike and bring it somewhere flat for practicing.

I intended to, each and every summer.

Then, all of a sudden, she's 14 and about to become independent, and go to college, and move across the county, and if she's ever stuck in the Algerian countryside without motor transportation, it will be MY fault that she couldn't ride a bike to the nearest town!

I consider this one of my worst failings as a parent.

So, what am I going to do about it?

There's still time to learn.  There's always time to learn!

So, last week, Juliana and I went to a local bike shop.  Just to look.

And we saw an amazing sight.

We saw this:

This cool, retro cruiser might be my daughter's ticket to ride!

This awesome, one-speed beauty could be the bike we've been waiting for.

So, we're heading back this week to make our decision.

And the decision to be made:  To Ride or Not to Ride

(Wish us luck!)