When I was growing up, I felt like the luckiest kid in the world because I spent every other weekend with my old man, racing bikes. And that, if you ask me, is the best thing in the world. But there are loads of other reasons to take your kids racing. Here are ten of them…
It’ll keep them out of trouble
Do you want your kids hanging around on street corners, sniffing glue and learning new swearwords? No, I didn’t think so. That’s probably where I would have wasted the majority of my youth, if I wasn’t racing bikes. The best way to stop kids throwing eggs at coppers and nicking Mars bars from Co-op, is to put take them racing.
It’ll keep you out of the pub
And whilst it’s keeping them off the street corners, it’ll keep you from drinking your life away down the pub. Don’t worry, there will still be time for a few pints on a Sunday night, once the racing’s finished. In fact, you never know, the kids might even treat you to a pint every now and then to say thanks. But don’t count on it.
It’ll give their life focus
Life’s better when you’ve got something to look forward to, especially if you’re a child. In fact, more than that, it’ll give them something to concentrate on. Something to engage them, and their brain, rather than boring maths questions at school and mind numbing computer games at night.
It’s excellent bribery material
Everyone bribes their kids. It’s a big part of parenting. “If you stop crying, you can have a lolly pop”. That kind of thing. Well think of a motorbike as the ultimate lolly pop. If you behave yourself, you can spend a weekend on your motorbike. If you don’t, you can spend a weekend cleaning out your auntie Mable’s chamber pots. Once you’ve explained to them what a chamber pot is, watch how well they behave.
They’ll meet different people
They’ll meet plenty of people at school, sure, but the more people they get to know as young kids, the more rounded an adult they’ll become. They’re bound to meet some wrong’uns in the racing paddock, but they’ll probably make friends for life, too. People with a common interest, other than just the fact that they go to the same school.
Quality family time
We all want to spend less time working and more time with the family, don’t we? Ok, not all of us, but some people do. And what better place to spend family time, than a racing paddock, on a lovely summer day. It might not be the cost-effective family day out, but it’s still probably cheaper than Disney Land.
It’s a reason for them to keep fit
Childhood obesity is a pandemic. Don’t let your kids weight become a statistic. As soon as they realise they like racing bikes, they’ll want to be as good as they can at it. And it won’t take them long to realise that eating biscuits and cakes all day every day won’t help them achieve their dream of becoming a MotoGP champion.
They might be the next Rossi
Because that’s exactly what they might be, if you start them young enough. A few other things will have to fall into place too, but someone’s got to be World Champion, haven’t they? And when they’ve got a factory ride, an even factory-er salary and their face is on the side of every buss from here to Jerez, they might just buy you that pint, after all.
They’ll probably love it
When I was a kid, give me a yoyo, and I’d be happy. Kids, these days though, are a bit more demanding. For the most part, if it doesn’t have a touch screen and a Wi-Fi connection, they’re not interested. That’s until you wheel out a PW50. Once they’ve climbed on that, the iPad will get thrown under the bed, never to be seen again. Well, until later on anyway.
You’ll probably love it, too
And you’ll probably have a blast as well. Watching your kids enjoying themselves, and maybe doing alright at something, isn’t going to get old. You’ll meet as many new friends as they will and it might cost you a few quid, but it’ll be worth it. And let’s face it, what else would you spend the money on? A new stair carpet? A three piece suite? Nah, that’s boring. Take the kids racing.
One Response
Wise words Mike nothing better than prepping bikes together in the shed and watching them grin from ear to ear whilst enjoying themselves and learning all the time .