Riding home last Sunday up the last hill to home, I passed a group of youths. Instead of the expected " 'ere Mister, yer back wheel's going round" / "ged orf an milk it" / "can you ride tandem" etc, I was greeted with "come on mate, you can do it!"
That put a smile on my face, bless 'em.
TdF - an unexpected spin off!
-
mhara
Ah yes, that mysterious process known as 'communicating with the youth of today'.
As I rode out of our drive yesterday I had to wait for a boy togged up in football gear, cycling past on the pavement, as most children seem to do. He looked about 10 or 11.
So after he was past I cycled out and caught up with him. I had noticed that, for all his youthful vigour, his rate of progress was impaired
a) because riding on pavements is much slower than on roads
b) because his feet weren't best positioned on his pedals - middle of foot centered on pedal
So I decided to first suggest that he try a different pedalling style and then, once I'd shown I had friendly intentions, I would pleasantly point out the illegality of pavement cycling.
I won't go into details. Safe to say the plan was a total
-up, not least because it turned out he had earphones on. He no doubt now has me identified as a totally batty aged female to be avoided forever more.
How do you converse with young people?
As I rode out of our drive yesterday I had to wait for a boy togged up in football gear, cycling past on the pavement, as most children seem to do. He looked about 10 or 11.
So after he was past I cycled out and caught up with him. I had noticed that, for all his youthful vigour, his rate of progress was impaired
a) because riding on pavements is much slower than on roads
b) because his feet weren't best positioned on his pedals - middle of foot centered on pedal
So I decided to first suggest that he try a different pedalling style and then, once I'd shown I had friendly intentions, I would pleasantly point out the illegality of pavement cycling.
I won't go into details. Safe to say the plan was a total
-up, not least because it turned out he had earphones on. He no doubt now has me identified as a totally batty aged female to be avoided forever more.
How do you converse with young people?
as a father of primary school age kids, for whats it worth, here goes - forget formal instruction and carefully considered language. They'll see you as just another "uncool teacher" and probably ignore or dislike you. Best approach is something like "ay up mate, hows it goin'?" - by calling em mate, you've levelled with them and by shortening words (hows it goin instead of how are you going) you're a bit cool. Don't overdo it tho', because they'll see you as a cheesy eccentric (so no "Yo dood"s). Then tell them you think the cycling is easy because you're cheating a bit and that they could get one over on their mates by positioning their feet correctly and cheating a bit too (or whatver you think they can improve on) . Ask them to try it out and to keep practicing.
in short, kids want to learn tricks of the trade, but don't want to be told how to do things formally. They need to feel that what they're learning is their idea or a bit of a cheat and that they have an advantage that they can show off to their mates. Seems to work for my boys and their mates.
I guess as they get older, and into teenagers, the tack will need to change - I'll need to learn this as the family progresses.
Whatever you do
1. don't tell them they've got it all wrong - tell them they're nearly there with just a few mods (even if they're hopeless)
2. don't tell them they'll never improve even if they refuse your help. Just tell them your help might act as a shortcut. Some kids might take on board what you've said and try it when you're out of sight.
3. always have a positive aspect - word it to concentrate on improving their good bits, rather than eliminating their bad bits (even though in practice your actions are to do the latter) - the only execption to this is road safety. If they disregard it, this needs correcting. I recently got my kids out of the car at a motorbike accident (in which an underage teenager on the bike later died) to look at it. Said victim had gone, but I wanted them to see the effect of a car v bike incident as a wake up call to how the bike ends up as the loser. Young one (4 yrs) was a bit shocked, but both are now very aware of traffic.
in short, kids want to learn tricks of the trade, but don't want to be told how to do things formally. They need to feel that what they're learning is their idea or a bit of a cheat and that they have an advantage that they can show off to their mates. Seems to work for my boys and their mates.
I guess as they get older, and into teenagers, the tack will need to change - I'll need to learn this as the family progresses.
Whatever you do
1. don't tell them they've got it all wrong - tell them they're nearly there with just a few mods (even if they're hopeless)
2. don't tell them they'll never improve even if they refuse your help. Just tell them your help might act as a shortcut. Some kids might take on board what you've said and try it when you're out of sight.
3. always have a positive aspect - word it to concentrate on improving their good bits, rather than eliminating their bad bits (even though in practice your actions are to do the latter) - the only execption to this is road safety. If they disregard it, this needs correcting. I recently got my kids out of the car at a motorbike accident (in which an underage teenager on the bike later died) to look at it. Said victim had gone, but I wanted them to see the effect of a car v bike incident as a wake up call to how the bike ends up as the loser. Young one (4 yrs) was a bit shocked, but both are now very aware of traffic.