Having a teen ride to school - endangerment?

From a parenting list I'm on -- comments? (Names changed to protect
privacy...)

---
Someone was talking about kids walking or riding their bikes to school.
I would never let my kids ride to the high school. For one thing, it
is 20 miles away, and for another, over half of that is on two lane
busy roads with no shoulder, and usually high embankments on either
side. A few weeks ago, Ron took the day off and happened to be heading
along that road at about 9 am, on a day when we had a monsoon. (We had
4 3/4 inches of rain in less than 12 hours!) He came across one of his
older boy scouts (actually
no longer a scout, but an Asst. Scoutmaster, because he is 18), on his
bike, along that road. Ron stopped, turned around and went back for
him. Luckily he was driving the truck, and could take Len to school
then take his bike home for him so he could ride the bus home. Len was
soaked, thoroughly chilled, and terrified, from all the drivers who had
buzzed past him, splashed water all over him, etc. (And this is a kid
who does regularly ride his bike to school for various things, so it
was the conditions and not the road that terrified him.) He had
overslept, and his mother told him to get
himself to school. Ron said if Len hadn't been over 18, he would have
thought about reporting his mother for endangerment.
---

So, what do you think? Endangerment?

Warm Regards,


Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referr=ADal/Cpetersky

Claire wrote:
From a parenting list I'm on -- comments? (Names changed to protect
privacy...)

---
Someone was talking about kids walking or riding their bikes to school.
I would never let my kids ride to the high school. For one thing, it
is 20 miles away, and for another, over half of that is on two lane
busy roads with no shoulder, and usually high embankments on either
side. A few weeks ago, Ron took the day off and happened to be heading
along that road at about 9 am, on a day when we had a monsoon. (We had
4 3/4 inches of rain in less than 12 hours!) He came across one of his
older boy scouts (actually
no longer a scout, but an Asst. Scoutmaster, because he is 18), on his
bike, along that road. Ron stopped, turned around and went back for
him. Luckily he was driving the truck, and could take Len to school
then take his bike home for him so he could ride the bus home. Len was
soaked, thoroughly chilled, and terrified, from all the drivers who had
buzzed past him, splashed water all over him, etc. (And this is a kid
who does regularly ride his bike to school for various things, so it
was the conditions and not the road that terrified him.) He had
overslept, and his mother told him to get
himself to school. Ron said if Len hadn't been over 18, he would have
thought about reporting his mother for endangerment.
---

So, what do you think? Endangerment?



I don't know about endangerment, but 20 miles seems way too far for a
teenager to commute to school on a bike, even with good road
conditions.
When I missed the bus in hs I hitchhiked. Not as bad as it sounds.
Almost always a fellow student would pick me up within minutes.

2 Jun 2005 13:12:49 -0700,
.com,
"lenny fackler" wrote:

I don't know about endangerment, but 20 miles seems way too far for a
teenager to commute to school on a bike, even with good road
conditions.

Twenty miles sounds like an exaggeration.
--
zk

Zoot Katz wrote:

Twenty miles sounds like an exaggeration.

That's what I thought, too. Is this to a private or charter school
perhaps?

Back on topic: Teaching older teens independence and self-reliance is
no crime.

RFM

In article .com,
"Claire" writes:

Ron said if Len hadn't been over 18, he would have
thought about reporting his mother for endangerment.
---
So, what do you think? Endangerment?

I think:

1) getting mixed up in other people's parenting is getting
into some pretty skookum waters.

2) are we talking about high school? If so, 18+ is rather
old, but not extremely so (Len may have been born late
in the year and so started later, or failed a grade, or
had to miss a year for medical reasons.)

3) there's just not enough background info, and too many
holes in the story to gel an opinion. Does Len /need/
to rely on his parents for important decision-making?

When I add together:
a) that he apparently followed mom's orders to go straight
to school, without question (like a good soldier)

b) "Len was soaked, thoroughly chilled, and terrified, from all
the drivers who had buzzed past him, splashed water all over
him, etc"

c) Len's age (kind of old for high school)

d) Ron's obvious concern about someone he knows better than us
in the peanut gallery

-- it /sounds/ like Len may have innocently misinterpreted or
misunderstood something somewhere along the line. IOW, maybe
mom meant for him to take the bus. I don't know the nicely-
laundered PC terminology, so I'll just be bluntly forthright --
I wonder if the kid might be a little "slow" when it comes to
mundane judgments & decisions, like for getting to school on
time, in one piece. And by "slow" I'm not saying "stupid", or
even "disabled"; far from it. FWIW, I was like that, myself,
until I got out of high school and started working in the real
world. And I was about Len's age when I got out of high school,
'cuz I failed a grade, and I was born in December, which makes
one about a year younger than someone born in January of the
same year. I also despised the regimentation of school (and
still do.) Anyhow, I turned out okay, despite a bunch of dumb
stuff I did.

4) the kid needs rain gear, and probably fenders. Lights wouldn't
hurt, either.

5) Maybe Len's mom is undergoing a complexity of feelings:
relief that he's all right & safe, consternation with
herself, worry about what might happen in the future, etc.
If so, I'd like her to know that it's been so much my
experience that stuff works itself out. A lot of life is
automagic, so don't worry about things you can't affect
anyway.

6) And to Ron I'd say: I think it's best to be /very/ familiar
with the dynamics of a particular family before dipping one's
oar in. And even then, think twice. Or thrice. But it's
good to have people lookin' out for ya, so good on ya for
lookin' out for Len.





cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"Tom Keats" wrote in message
...
In article .com,
"Claire" writes:

2) are we talking about high school? If so, 18+ is rather
old, but not extremely so (Len may have been born late
in the year and so started later, or failed a grade, or
had to miss a year for medical reasons.)

What are you talking about? It is normal for many seniors to be 18 when
they graduate high school.

"Claire" wrote in message

So, what do you think? Endangerment?

Not even close.

Teenage dynamics can be funny. One can imagine this:
Teenager oversleeps, despite being reminded to get up by alarm
clock and parent(s).
Argument results. Adults have to go to work, complain about
being late due to sleepy teenager.
Teenager doesn't like being reminded of his irresponsibility,
stalks out and in a gesture of independence starts riding the
bike to school, working up a nice martyrdom complex.
Parents consider their choices:
a. Continuing the argument while driving next to the
teenager as he rides his bike -- possibly for several miles
until somebody gives up.
b. Letting the kid learn, on his own, that oversleeping
has consequences.
c. Physically dragging the kid off the bike and forcing
him to do what you want him to do.

As for me, I'd go with (b).

Tom Keats had some good points, as well.

Mike Kruger
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

no comment about the endangerment question but wondering if this is really
from our Claire! In the years I've been lurking on this board I've never
seen her From listed as just 'Claire' but ALWAYS as Claire Petersky.

"Harris" wrote in message
...
: no comment about the endangerment question but wondering if this is really
: from our Claire! In the years I've been lurking on this board I've never
: seen her From listed as just 'Claire' but ALWAYS as Claire Petersky.

It's not from the same account she always uses, either.


:
:

Harris wrote:
no comment about the endangerment question but wondering if this is really
from our Claire! In the years I've been lurking on this board I've never
seen her From listed as just 'Claire' but ALWAYS as Claire Petersky.

I count four new threads started by Claire Petersky using the subject
account (that are still on my server).
"How the Other 90% lives" - 1/19/2005
"Rhymes with Orange cartoon yesterday" - 1/25/2005
"I lost my blinkie" - 5/10/2005
and this one.

Some of those, Claire participated in with her regular account and never
questioned their authenticity.

My vote is it's from Claire Petersky.

Austin
--
I'm pedaling as fast as I durn well please!
There are no X characters in my address