How to raise healthy kids

CTC has produced “The CTC guide to family cycling”.

It’s about getting children, from babes in arms to teenagers and all the points in between, on bikes.
This book – written by Dan Joyce, the editor of Cycle, the CTC magazine – is aimed at all families who are on the cusp of becoming cyclists or existing cyclists who have recently become parents.

There’s information on:
• How to choose the safest child seat or child trailer.
• Trailer cycles and tandems explained.
• How to cycle with a child aboard.
• Buying your child their first bike.
• The best way to teach your child how to ride a bike.
• Cycling to school.
• When to buy a bigger bike and what to look for when you do.
• Clothing and accessories to keep you all comfortable and secure.
• Essential skills for riding on and off-road.
• Great days out: the best places to ride your bikes.
• Tips to make your cycling trips a success.
Joyce said:

“Give your child a good bike and the skills and opportunities to use it and you’ll solve at a stroke everything that’ supposedly ‘wrong’ with 21st century childhood. Fresh air, exercise, freedom, fun – cycling does it all.”

Joyce is the father of three boys:
“My youngest son wants to know when we’re going mountain biking next. My middle son happily cycles to friends’ houses several miles away, when his peers are cooped up in the parental ‘taxi’. My eldest was delighted to be asked by the doctor what sport he did, because the health check showed he was an athlete – even though he’ never done any sport; he just rides his bike.”