Mr Mackintosh’s year 9 class in Australia had a few questions about cycling in the Netherlands. These videos are attempting to provide some answers. Here I am exploring how cool it is for kids to be able to cycle independently in the Netherlands and the freedom this brings!
Music: bensound.com
In this video i am going to try to explain to mr mcintosh’s year 9 class why you would definitely want to cycle if you lived in the netherlands and with bike paths like these it isn’t hard to imagine why this is a bicycle path that takes you right under the
Reichs museum in amsterdam the biggest museum in all of the netherlands and of course there is a bike path right through it when we left the sunny shores of australia we knew we were trading in our beach lifestyle for well beautiful bicycle paths it may seem like a strange choice but we
Made it because we believed that it would help our children to become more independent empowered and resilient and it is true because of the bicycle dutch kids have a lot of freedom at the age of 10 they all sit for a for kia’s examine or traffic safety exam they take it pretty seriously
Here is my daughter studying for it there is also a practical component where they all have to bring their bikes to school and they run through a variety of drills even my son who is seven has also had this sort of practical instruction once they have completed the vaquias examine
The parents can feel pretty confident in their child’s ability to cycle independently and know the road rules this means from the age of 10 if not earlier most dutch kids will transport themselves to school football training hockey ballet music lessons etc this is life changing for both parents and kids
Parents because they don’t have to taxi their kids everywhere and kids because they have untold amounts of freedom and from what i can see kids love the freedom they cycle around town in friendship groups they cycle to school together they are on their way to adulthood they are empowered and independent
When my school went on an excursion students were expected to bring their bicycles so that they could cycle approximately eight kilometers to the place we were going this is totally normal but also extremely enjoyable for the children chatting to friends fitness fresh air and the unparalleled feeling of having transported yourself
Somewhere under your own steam my daughter in the equivalent of year five has to bring her bicycle to school every monday and wednesday so that she and her class can cycle to gym when it is raining hard or when there is a wind storm well they still have to cycle
On top of the bad weather many kids also cycle long distances when talking with other parents many think it is quite reasonable for their child to cycle 10 kilometers to high school each way in my view cycling these sort of distances in bad weather is tough and it builds resilience
A trait that i can see in many of my students so all of this may be leaving you wondering why would you want to cycle if you lived in the netherlands and the answer comes back to freedom as a kid from a young age you can get yourself anywhere
And when the sun does shine and the wind is blowing through your hair you feel on top of the world
25 Comments
My mom never brought me too school in a car. Rain, storm or snow it didn't matter, we were not made out of sugar she said. If i had a flat tire i had to repair it myself. Now she was happy to teach me but if i didn't do it she said i could just walk to school. It was al a part of Growing up and now years later i am so thankful for it.
I love it. Thank you for sharing this story. ✌
A car requires a lot of money for fuel / gas. A bike gets 25 KM a hamburger. 🚲 Een auto heeft veel geld nodig voor brandstof/gas. Een fiets krijgt een burger 25 KM. 🚲
Fantastic!
In America, we just coddle our children and overspend on 16 lane highways and freak out when gas exceeds $2.50 a gallon
Why would you want to walk???? And a car in a city does not work, is way slower than a bike, and way more expensive and dangerous.
I remember how tough the first moments were needing to cycle 12km up/down to school when I was 11 years old. When I was a few years older I had a girlfriend in a nearby village and also cycled there. At that time digital speedometers were just invented and I installed one, only to discover I was cycling over 10000km a year! I do have a car now, but cycle to work, and my bike does more kilometers a year than my car does.
Very true, when i was a kid i had to go trough the same exams and cycling lessons, and going to school everyday by bike.
Children here have all the independence here, kids after school go to malls or Mac Donalds, or whatever the food they eat and they go to a park somewhere and eat their lunch and doing TikTok stuff.
Whatever the youngsters do these days.
But the point is, nobody is betting an eye on these kids, and we don't have to..
when a kid has to make it home in time instead of getting picked up. and tons of other small things make the kids so much more mature on an early age because you already made all the mistakes in the book when you are young
You would definetly want to drive in the USA.
This is a great video. I think we might discover that the biggest benefit from building a cycle network in America is not climate change, not cost savings, not even physical health (though it will help all of those things) but the mental well-being of our kids.
Too bad the Netherlands is becoming a fake/e bike country.
My god, what a bunch of bullshit…
this is what I call beautiful
Excellent video.
I think netherlands is way way better than australia to raise children, but the lack of homeschooling concerns me.
Just so you know, even with permission it's not automatically allowed to use kids in a clip. Normally you should blur them out.
I'm not entirely sure on the exact law, but the EU decided to protect children from being recognizably portrayed in public spaces.
I'm sure it's not a problem in any way, but just take notion of it. 😊
This last sentence, "we live on top of the world" and you're doing that in pretty much the lowest country of the world 😁😁
10km is long distance…. Bhahahhahahaha
Great take, I totally agree with everything you said!
Why riding a bike in The Netherlands? Everything is flat. No mountains, a few hills in Limburg, that's all.
You forget to talk about this important law of nature: headwind on the way to school and headwind on the way back.
Very interesting, thank you. When i was a kid in the us in the 70's, we would ride our bikes all over the neighborhoods in which we lived. Ironically though as we got older as teenagers, it was seen as very "uncool" to ride a bike, everyone dreamed of having a car, but few kids did, and lobbied their parents all the time to use the family car, of which there was one or more often two. And spent a lot of time immobilized at home for lack of a car.
I look back on it now with a sense of sadness. The whole city in which i lived was right there at my fingertips, could have easily roamed far and wide on a bike, would have made a big difference in life. We literally lived less than a mile from supermarkets, library, shopping centers, schools, etc., but no one at that time (and now) would have even dreamed of walking or riding a half mile to pick up some groceries.
I'm making up for it now, have been car free for many years, and don't regret it a bit, even when commuting at -15 C 🙂
Greetings from the Netherlands
YOU MISSED AN IMPORTANT FACT. . . . . THERE ARE VERY FEW HILLS IN THE NETHERLANDS.