Mini Dad Mistakes?

I agree with some of the people on here, let your kids enthusiasm be your guide. If he is super excited and wants to go all the time, he will show you what bike he wants to ride, and you can always spin laps on someone else's bike that you know. If he is only so so on it but has some interest, just make it fun and let him go his own pace. My youngest likes to ride a little, and looks forward to a few rides a year, he is concentrating on other sports for now. I don't want him to get hurt or burn him out, so he can go when he wants, I'm hoping for the late bloomer who will be hooked for life so I have someone to ride with. My dad (at 73) is riding more hours per year than I am at this point, because I'm so busy with my kid's other sports, but he is only young once and I still have the rest of my life to keep riding as much as I want. Stick and ball stuff will die out once he gets to college and then hopefully his light interest in dirt bikes will allow us to ride more. At least my kid isn't whipping me on the track!!!!
 
As a former Moto kid, I second what most of these dads have said. Just let the kid decide what to do and when they want to ride. Some encouragement is great, but by the time I was at the national level (I was racing flat track back then) my dad would pick me up for the weekend with the bike in the trailer behind the Pinto for another day of Honda Hills practice. By the time I was 11-12, I just wanted to be a kid some times. After racing 4 times in 5 days for the amateur nationals and taking 5th overall, my dad insisted I go and race a meaningless Honda Hills date on the 6th day. I was so exhausted and burnt out that I went out and did mediocre and never raced with him again. My dad worked three jobs to support "my" habit and I appreciate everything he did, but I never asked him to do any of it so once he started to guilt me, that was it. All the "it factor" in the world means nothing if the kid isn't having fun.
 
I saw where Weasel49 had his kid on the line over the weekend. Very cool and exciting. But damn, don't slap him in the head every lap as he goes by, and yell faster. Your going to give him a concussion!!

MX Dad.jpg
 
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