re: I witnessed a father humiliating his son in public yesterday

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I cannot get this exchange between father and son out of my head today. I was at the Abita Springs trailhead on the Tammany Trace hanging out with our kids at the splash pad yesterday afternoon. A guy and his son grab their bikes (his son is on training wheels and looks like he's 4 or 5). They had been riding for a while and had stopped at the trailhead to use the bathroom. Right after the boy gets on, the bike fell over (sidewalk is at a very slight angle which would easily throw the balance off of someone learning to ride a bike). His dad just yells at him "did you suddenly forget how to ride a bike?" The boy gets back on on his own, and and when he doesn't go as fast (slightly up hill right here), his dad yells at him again and accuses him of being lazy and rides off ahead of him. I felt so bad for the little boy.
And to this particular dad... It's over 90 degrees outside in the middle of the day. I'm obviously not one of these "stay inside because it's too hot" types when it's really not, besides riding a bike takes a lot of energy out of small bodies that do not already have the coordination and strength/stamina that adults do. Have a little more understanding and instead ask your son what you can do to help instead of humiliating him in public.

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