Expert Mom Recommends Taking Kids Dirt Bike Riding

Why teaching your daughter to ride is a good idea

By: Bryan Wood

Dec 2, 2018 at 12:51pm ET

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It seems like we are presented with stories about "helicopter parents" every day (and not the cool kind who buy their kids a RC helicopter), so it is a welcome change when you see a story from a mom who loves to ride in the dirt with her seven year old daughter. Malin McKinley isn't just a mom though, she is a therapist and social worker who deals with parenting issues as well as social, self esteem, and body dysmorphic issues, so when she tells you this is good for your kids it means more. Getting your kids hooked on dirt bikes at a young age is the perfect antidote to the addictive draw of Minecraft and other sedentary indoor activities.

Malin wrote up a short review of her Suzuki DR-Z125L, and her daughter's new for 2019 DR-Z50 for Ultimate Motorcycling, and laid out all the positive aspects of taking a young girl riding. But, perhaps because this was her opinion as a mom and not a professional, she never mentioned that she is a professional who deals with moms, kids, and family issues every day as a social worker and therapist. When she says that her daughter "asks lots of questions about what girls can and cannot do. I love any opportunity I get to tell her that girls can ride just as fast and be as competitive as the boys" it certainly sounds like the opinion of someone who knows.

You can read her entire piece on her and her daughter and their bikes here at Ultimate Motorcycling.

Despite the general public's ideas on dirt bike riders, it is not just young men hopped up on energy drinks, there are plenty of middle class, educated families from the suburbs who enjoy riding. Unfortunately, the areas around Los Angeles have all been civilized, and regulated, but there are still plenty of designated Off Highway Vehicle areas, and motocross tracks, within 100 miles of the city. If you want to get your kids involved you don't have to drop a bundle on brand new bikes and a toy hauler, you can get barely used kids bikes for just a couple hundred and rent a trailer at U-Haul light enough for most crossovers or minivans.