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In reply to the discussion: I'm Afraid My Neighbors Will Call Cops if My Kids Walk Alone [View all]Buckeye_Democrat
(14,855 posts)The brother that was 7 years older than me would ride his bike somewhere, and I'd furiously kick the front wheel pedals of the Big Wheel trying to keep up.
The plastic wheels would get holes in them after awhile, and then I'd get another one. The last one had a hand brake for one of the back wheels to intentionally cause spin-outs, which was my favorite. But I was also starting to get too big to continue riding it comfortably by then.
The same brother secretly followed me on his bike a few times when I ran around the block as a baby. He said that I just kept to the sidewalk in a rectangular pattern around the block, like some adult exercise enthusiast. Which he thought was bizarre back then, and he still thinks it was weird. It seems weird to me too, to be honest, but I don't remember doing it.
Edit: That brother also said that he and his friends would follow the mosquito "fog truck" on their bikes in the late-60's and early-70's. It was DDT, which was banned just a few years later! He looks back on it, thankful that he's still alive with few health issues, but also wondering why the truck driver never seemed to care that a bunch of children were getting sprayed directly behind him as he slowly drove through our neighborhood! The guy never exited the truck to yell at them, or anything.