Why One Tricycle Will Destroy A Generation

I have seen them used frequently. I even registered for one once and then deleted it. I guess this is why I took the pushable tricycle off of Scarlett’s birthday registry.

Take a good look:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=tricycle+for+toddlers&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1264&bih=810&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=18432182128697870937&sa=X&ei=rYeaT-mJN4jo0QHKtIyeDw&sqi=2&ved=0CLkBEPICMAE

Not only is this item something you will never need. It is everything that is wrong with parenting in 21st century America. A tricycle is a great product. It is one of  the first opportunities for a toddler to experience how navigate and move together. How to operate a vehicle. Think about the wonderful moment as you stand in front of your toddler and encourage them to ride to you. You clap and cheer. It’s a milestone. Next will be training wheels and finally a big kid bike. It all begins from those first moments of encouragement on a tricycle.

So why are parents taking this milestone away in the name of convenience? Is encouraging your kid so much of a chore that you have to buy a bike attached to a stick so you can push them along?

This line of products that remove effort and encouragement has extended from trikes to Cozy Coupe’s. There are dozens of toddler products that remove the effort. And when you remove the effort a parent removes the development of fine motor skills, cause and effect, problem solving , speed control. For what? So you don’t have to smile and clap for your kid? So you can control every movement he/she makes?

Even if the stick is removable, the damage has been done. Take the stick off one day and wonder why your kid doesn’t understand what’s going on? Why won’t little Tommy pedal?

I am going to put it on the line now. My prediction is that it is going to start with this tricycle on a stick and, a generation of parents who are too busy to teach a kid how to use a regular tricycle, will  create a generation of people who need to be pushed along for the rest of their lives, devoid of motivation and intellectually under-developed.

That’s just my opinion.