Ever since my son has reached the size of an adult, things have gotten more complicated. We can’t get away with a lot of the things we used to take for granted when he was child-sized. Like child-priced tickets at the movie theater, or kids’ meals when we eat out, or shopping in the boys’ section of the stores. This weekend, we got to experience another big bummer on the trip towards his adulthood. We went bike shopping.

In years past, the child has been easily guided towards the item we want him to have. You know how it’s done. You line up the options you’ve selected for him and let him pick one. You’re guaranteed that he’ll chose one you’ve already approved and he gets a sense of participation in the decision making. It’s win-win.

Fast forward to thirteen and that just doesn’t fly anymore. For one thing, the child is five foot, seven inches tall (and that’s quickly increasing) and weighs about 120 lbs. He’s bigger than most of his friends’ mothers (but not me, yet, I still have two inches on him and a umm, few pounds on him, too). So, it’s already a given that cheap is out. He has to have a full, adult sized bike.

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