The Talk of New York

Scooters Kick-Start Hearts of Kids, Adults

By BOB YAMPOLSKY

A year ago, there were none on the streets. Now, some people consider them New York's latest plague. I am talking about scooters. Whose idea was this? Our narrow sidewalks are already crammed with strollers, inline-skaters, vendors, dogs, pedestrians and garbage, and now we're giving hard-metal vehicles to children? Emergency rooms across the city have been reporting great increases in scooter-related injuries, and there is talk of legislation requiring all scooter riders to wear helmets (as skaters and bicyclists are now required). More vocal opponents are calling for scooter bans on busy thoroughfares; a local paper is calling on Mayor Giuliani to address this pressing issue; and more and more attention is being focused on the irresponsible parents who outfit their kids with scooters. The other evening I was with my kids in front of the building, watching them ride on theirs. The sidewalk was wide there, and not very busy, so it's a good place for this sort of thing. The only problem, though, was that we were in full view of our neighbors, and when neighbors see a scooter, they felt inclined to make a comment. A man who lived on the ninth floor passed by and said, "So you broke down and got one, I see." The man smiled as he said this, but it did not seem to be a particularly kind thing to say. But what could I do? There is a common view in my neighborhood that parents here give their children too many toys and too little discipline. The scooter is fast becoming a symbol of this. So as a parent, I would say the scooter has this drawback: it marks you as materialistic and over-indulgent. I smiled back, said nothing, and went back to looking at my kids. When we went back inside, Ely, the doorman, asked me, "What did that cost you? A hundred dollars?" "Yeah," I said, "plus tax," and I made a gesture of helplessness with my hands. Scooters, when they first appeared about a year ago, were rich kids' toys, selling in upscale stores. But cheaper models have flooded in, and a store near my office sells them for $40 (¥4,280). You'll see scooters now in virtually any residential neighborhood. Then in the elevator going up we rode with Andrew, who also has two small children. He looked at the scooter and said, "We've been trying to avoid getting one of those." I mumbled something apologetic. I like Andrew. His kids are smart and well behaved, and he and his wife are obviously making an effort not to spoil them. By buying a scooter for my kids, I had made things harder for him and other good parents trying to hold the line against the rampant materialism and consumerism of our age. For parents who do splurge and buy one, the scooter may seem like a constant source of worry and irritation. You have to worry about your kid getting hurt, or running over an old lady with a cane, or scooting ahead out of sight. But the scooter actually performs an important function. New York parents like to have their kids on wheels: first baby carriages, then strollers until the kids simply can't fit. Now scooters perform the same function for elementary school kids: they make them move a lot faster and a lot more willingly, meaning that it becomes a whole lot easier to take kids to the store, or the bank, or wherever you have to go on an errand. It is also how many kids are going to school these days. At my kids' school, a note from the principal went home in the first week, informing us that scooters cannot be left in school. So now, across the city, you can see mothers, after they have dropped off their kids in the morning, hauling back home the scooter their kid took to school. Some fads are kid-driven: that is, kids get excited about something (e.g., Pokemon) and become true believers on their own. I think the scooter, though, is different. The current scooter fad seems parent-driven: parents want the scooters for their kids. My kids never gave any indication that they wanted a scooter. I wanted one, because it seemed fun, like a toy that I would have enjoyed as a boy. I think many parents feel the same way. You'll often see parents trying out scooters while the kids are engaged in something else. Or sometimes you'll see parents riding with a little kid up front, or parents with their own scooters, riding alongside their kids. All in all, I'd say that the scooter has been good for my kids. My six-year-old brims with confidence as she scoots her way down the sidewalk. She knows when she should slow down and when she should stop, and she can go quite fast. And though my four-year-old still falls down quite a bit, he knows to brush himself off, get back on and try again.

Shukan ST: Oct. 27, 2000

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