Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
I'm over 40 with a few kids, I definitely don't feel like a young man anymore!
I grew up with alot of rope, I think giving kids real responsibility early in life is important, just riding bikes and dirtbikes early teaches the consequences of your actions.
Go figure. Who knew being outside is good for kids. ...and that goes for adults too.
Blessed to grow up in the Santa Monica MTNs. The toughest choice was... BMX day, horse day or motorcycle day. As long as our chores were done. Sometimes all us neighborhood kids would go creek exploring all day or wandering around the hills. Come home covered in mud and mom would hose us down before letting us in the house.
We flat out did not WANT to be inside....that was punishment.
I wouldn't trade my childhood for all the money in the world.
EDIT: My mom took this shot of me jumping over the fire pit on my BMX bike. (Wish her timing was better). How's that for "helicopter" parenting.
I grew up on 5 acres and my brother and I would be outside all day. Summer and winter. I remember riding our bikes to the lake every day in the summer. I hardly see kids on my street outside anymore. My wife grew up in the city and her Mom was a clean freak. She had never walked outside barefoot on grass till we bought our house.
For some reason I imagined you grew up around a lot of bears. And Cole Seeley. (:
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Free shipping: VITALMX
Can’t speak for the one who created this thread but I don’t think it was to “eat member berries” and reminisce of the good ole days. Let’s hear some ways to help the young of today get back to what we know life can be as a youth. Side note. I’m 41 and had the same childhood as most of you guys.
I just got back from a couple of hours with my 9-year-old at the school ballpark playing basketball, learning how to throw a football and e-biking. An older guy walking his dog commented it was great to just see a kid playing basketball. It's true you don't see kids outside very much anymore! I would be gone for hours from my house when I was my daughter's age, riding bikes and later dirt bikes.
My daughter (11) is the same way.
my son can play with his days all day and never talk to us if we let him, but our daughter never learned how to “play”, she is constantly up our asses.
now that she is in middle school, she is finally gaining some independence from us. She is now more interested in hanging out with her friends so instead of following us around, she follows them around.
It's hard to get kids to do anything these days over technology. I smashed my 9 year olds playstation last fall after 2 months of him not wanting to do anything but stare at screens. He's doing much better now, and I think he understands that I don't want him to be 300 pounds living in my basement when he's 30. I have the same issue with my nephew, but worse. I try to get them to enjoy wrestling practice, mountain biking, moto, shooting, hunting, and just outdoors at the creek or friends farm as much as possible. They've learned how to drive cars and tractors in the field, and we have a MX track to ride at home.
We homeschool to keep them away from all the bullshit that's become so common. There's also a lot more homeschool families with the same concerns. They are allowed to still play sports in their school district. Our local wrestling program for example is really good, and none of the adults are pussified, mentally ill idiots.
Times are different. No way do I want my kids riding a bike on the road because there's too much traffic, and drivers are too stupid these days. 30 years ago my friends and I would ride our bicycles 6 miles into town, and our parents had no clue. They still need to explore and figure things out on their own, it's just a different world, so I don't have the perfect parenting plan figured out. I'm far from perfect, but I'm atleast trying with the best of intentions.
I think the electronics give them too much instant gratification, which discourages them with sports in the real world. My son an nephew will do great in practice, but act like babies after being whooped by tough competition. Then it's hard to get them to compete again wether it be MX or wrestling. Doing my best to figure it out, and prepare them for life beyond sports and childhood.
There is a perfect pile of orange clay dirt on the side of the sidewalk next to the high-school and middle school I pass on the way to my parents and there has not been one single bike tire track on it anywhere for over a decade. It would have ruts up every direction and a line of 30 kids who would of launched it every day of the week on the way home from school when I was a kid.
Do your kids race or spar with friends outside of organized practice or events? Often at a young age competitive motivation comes easier when you are trying to beat your friends than strangers, and more practice in low stakes competition primes the pump for when they need to step it up with tougher competitors. Practice, Progress, Perform
We only go to about 1/3 of the PAMX races and wrestling tournaments. Not many moto kids near us to practice with. My nephew really backs away from competition and hard work. My son is off and on with hard work. I don't want to burn them out or take the fun away, but I also don't want them to grow up to be pussies. It's a tough to balance thing between hard work and fun. My son just started going to workout with my personal trainer 1 day a week on this past Friday, and did pretty well for a 9 year old. We dam near have a full gym in our basement and I can get both kids to do some exercises once in awhile.
I've been simply trying to set an example of hard work especially since November. Blew the jelly out of my 2 bottom discs in my back. Went from not able to get out of bed or a chair on my own to almost fully recovered in about 2/3 to half the normal time by exercising 8 to 12 hours a week for 2.5 months. I think seeing me work my ass off literally has influenced them a little.
My nephew basically lives with adults who are worthless slackers, and the parents are divorced. I try to lift him up to a higher level, but sometimes he's stubborn and shuts down. Tough to figure out how to bring his spirits, and confidence up unless he's playing video games. All the kid has at home is screens to interact with. The adults he lives with don't give a shit about being involved with him in a positive way.
I'm 38, soon to be 39. 4 kids (12g, 11b, 9g, 8b). My wife home schools them. I had a similar childhood to the others stated. My kids all like to be outside. The biggest thing that helps is limiting their tech time. TV, tablets, phones, computer. 30 min a day. That's all they've ever known and don't fight us at all on it. Occasionally, they get a little extra if mom and dad want to go on a date, etc. My oldest boy walked 69.7 miles last spring looking for shed deer antlers (he was 10 at the time). My youngest girl will start swimming in our pond in late April and go until early October (we're in Wisconsin). My youngest boy loves to work operate equipment and work outside. I guess the last thing I'll say, is my wife and I are both big on responsibility. When the kids demonstrate they can handle it, they get more. They all seem the thrive on that. We are not helicopter parents in the slightest. Most kids will figure things out on their own if you let them.
Tablets and video games seems to come up alot . My wife and I give my son 7- 30 minutes tickets on Friday, when they're gone that's it for games or tablet time for the week.
interesting. My son plays soccer and I've noticed he plays to the level of his competition. Even in practice, if he is paired up with the 2 best players on the team, he is a savage, if he is paired up with the "meh" kids, he is also very meh. On his team, he has a few classmates, and in one game, they played against another team that had classmates, and it was the best game he has had.
I never made the connection about being more competitive with people they know, but it makes complete sense. Thanks Early.
Settle down yall, the kids are alright. It's just a totally different world now. They are digitally native but they still get out and do things. Maybe it's just where you live? We see the middle schoolers riding around our neighborhood all the time on bikes. The pools are packed in the summer time. There's kids fishing at the creek. The local middle school is a hotspot hangout, there's always kids there riding bikes around the track, playing soccer, spikeball, football. I took my project truck for a spin the other day and there was a street basketball game going on with a bunch of maybe 4th graders? We're in a good suburb where the kids can do these things, but the 2.5 miles from here to downtown? Hell naw. I sold my street bike two years ago because I almost got hit 3x in a 10 minute ride. Why would I put my kids in the same situation?
My dad tells stories like a lot of you have on this thread. Riding dirtbikes in the woods, riding bikes through town, riding the powerlines, mudding in their trucks. It seemed like no one gave a shit back then and the kids could get away with it. The problem is, every inch of town is now developed and you can't whistle without getting yelled at by someone or get in trouble. If I sent my 6 year old to the playground two streets away we'd get a call asking "where the hell are you?!" from some karen who called the cops.
I guess a lot of it depends on where you live too. I'll just leave it at this (as an early 30s parent who grew up doing all the above mentioned activities outside) - there's not as much freedom in the public space for the kids anymore. Get off my lawn, no trespassing, aggressive / nosy people, dangerous people and drivers not paying attention, everything is a liability to somebody etc etc. Hell, you can't even drop your teenagers off at the mall in a lot of places now, they won't let them without adult supervision.
My little kids can and do play in the backyard all the time and climb the fence to the neighbors yard and play there. We are a year maybe from letting my oldest around the block on her own out of sight.
The kids are alright. Let's just do our part as parents, grandparents etc to help them out.
"...I guess a lot of it depends on where you live too. I'll just leave it at this (as an early 30s parent who grew up doing all the above mentioned activities outside) - there's not as much freedom in the public space for the kids anymore. Get off my lawn, no trespassing, aggressive / nosy people, dangerous people and drivers not paying attention, everything is a liability to somebody etc etc. Hell, you can't even drop your teenagers off at the mall in a lot of places now, they won't let them without adult supervision..."
There's some(a lot) of truth to that. Where I used to fish/swim and where I used to ride is now no trespassing. Lot more rules I suppose.
That aside, has everybody seen the stats that say teenagers are not having sex like they used to? Not probably a stat worth being proud of,
but it did show we had a sex drive...teenage pregnancies were at their highest the year i graduated from HS, 1988. Been a steady decline since and 16-19 year olds today, reporting that they have had sex dropped a lot since covid. Porn? Or is it every teenage boy is given free....other means of gratification? Hand jobs, blow jobs, etc...whatever etc would be 
Also, have you guys read that teens are not so eager to get a drivers license? Man, back in the mid 80's the date was circled on the calendar when you could get your learners permit, 15.5 years of age in Wa. if I remember right. Drivers ed was being taken and on your 16th birthday you were in line at the DOT to take your test....and in our areas case...hopefully the drivers test was NOT administered by the hot, but evil and non forgiving Mexican chick in her 40's. She was legendary for being a stickler.
Society has eliminated alot of kids spaces, the mall, the movies, even public parks don't want parents dropping their kids off and leaving them unattended.
At the same time the home has become a prison, there's a camera on every doorbell and inside every house. When I was in high school in the late 90s talk on the weekends was who's parents aren't home so we could have a place to let loose, now every parent can see their house and driveway 24 hours a day.
I got my first taste of 5 year soccer this fall, after a season of alot of confusion for the kids and yelling from the sidelines for the parents they held a kids vs parents game the last week. There were more smiles on the kids faces and better play in that game than the whole 2 months prior. Sports are supposed to be fun.
Pit Row
haha, for my sons birthday he wanted an adults vs kids game with his soccer team and their parents. It was a blast for everyone except me, ended up tearing my ACL
I was going to say lead by example, sounds like you are going that route. I make it a point with my boy to say let's do push-ups you do 5 and I'll do 10. Similar with pull-ups and leg lifts, he does pull-ups on my total gym (the thing chuck norris used to hock) to make them easier for him with good form.
Seeing an outside trainer once a week is good because it gives a structure and goal outside of what you tell him, but you need to reinforce it the rest of the time. Same with school, a teacher can only do so much and most kids have a real hard time over coming their home situation, teachers can only do so much. I hope you can be a positive force in your nephews life like it sounds like you are trying.
There’s no universal “right way” or “wrong way” to raise children. Some kids may not have the physical capabilities to excel outdoors, but they could be super-achievers academically. Obsession with video games (or MX message boards) isn’t healthy, but neither is forcing people into unnecessarily uncomfortable environments. We’re all built differently.
It's truly a different world as I could ride from my house into Loxahatchee and Everglades in three directions and the beach on the other. Dirtbikes and three wheeler convoys to the beach daily to fish and surf. They were tearing down the Everglades all around our little community and they would dig giant lakes to dry the area up and leave half mile 5 story high piles of dirt everywhere for years that we built tracks all over. Now there is not a single plant or tree in that whole city that was not planted by a landscape company and you would get your bike taken and ticketed now by the police where they smiled and waved back then. My parents basically only cared about manners and kindness but we were the poorest of poor people in Florida so I think they let me have a lot of freedom back then to make up for it as long as I remained a good human.
great point I meant to add in my post. Love the "millenials and their phones / kids and their screens" complaints from guys with thousands of posts on a moto forum ha. It's all in good fun.
There were kids back in the 70s who didn't go outside either. And the neighborhood that was a family hotspot 10, 20, 30 years ago maybe isn't anymore. The kids are alright. Just like my gen, your gen, and everyone before that.
Good thing they (CBC) told us this.
I hire a lot of young people, today's 23 year old is yesteryear's 14 year old. No comparison.
what industry? it's subjective at best when people say things like this. Are you training, do you offer upward mobility, job security, long term benefits? Are you growing the business? Or are you looking to pay the next Jimmy Joe that walks through the door $15/hr until he quits for the $20/hr job down the street.
I work in sales and these young bucks are killers. Young to mid 20s selling millions of dollars of contracts a year. Hard working, energetic, resourceful, eager to learn. I'd hire them over and over and over again.
I know plenty of deadbeats that went to college. I know plenty of successful people that went to college. I know people that haven't done shit since high school. And I know dudes that went to work straight out of high school and started business and are extremely successful. My parents could say the same things about their generation.
There are competent and incompetent people across all age groups.
The kids are alright. Let's continue to do our part as parents, grandparents, friends etc to help them out.
My boys live outside. We don’t own a video game system, they don’t have phones (my boys are 13 and 10)…there is a lake about a half mile from my house and they are there all the time fishing and playing in the woods (doing who knows what?)…there is a dirt pile on the side of my house, and they are constantly building jumps for their bikes….they have access to tools and wood and will build whatever they can dream up (I came home one day to this contraption in my driveway…it was to haul all their stuff behind their bikes down to the lake)….what I’ve noticed is that a lot of neighborhood boys congregate at my house…there will be ten 12/13 year olds in my front yard sometimes digging holes or building jumps in that dirt pile. I think most kids crave it…and just don’t recognize it.
This is how I grew up (only they can’t ride their dirt bikes out of the garage like I could)…and I try very hard to let my boys have that same freedom, and to use their imagination to keep themselves busy and learn to entertain themselves.
Do I worry about them? Of course!…but I believe that I have to let them take “careful” risks…and if they think they can do something (that isn’t completely ridiculous), I let them try it (yes, we’ve made a few trips to the ER for broken bones and stitches)…but how are they going to learn unless they fail?
Certainly there successful, enterprising, ambitious young people, I agree with you. But from my own experience, and overwhelming statistical evidence alot young men also fail to grow up as fast as they used to. My cousin and some of his friends lied about his age and volunteered for service in WW2 at 15 years old and served in airborne, he wrote a book about it. It used to be very common when I was young for most 14-15 year olds to have some sort of job to buy a car when they turn 16. And please don't do the whole "employees aren't good because you pay bad" narrative. Few employers who pay uncompetitively stay employers long. In general young men are less capable, ambitious, and resourceful. And a lot of them will tell you so themselves.
I was definitely off on my own a lot as a kid and that’s how I liked it. That said, I actually fear what you’re asking for haha. I split time with having my daughter so I’d do anything for more time with her. I find myself hoping she always wants to include me in all the stuff we do now, in her toddler stage.
Post a reply to: Kids need to play outside