Who know what was really going on?? So I won't judge.
But I did feel bad for putting my son in a bad spot a few weeks ago.
When we went to Vegas to ride in Red Rock Canyon I had no idea of the elevation. We are the ultimate sea level weenie family. Once we got going it was immediately clear that we were "in over our head".. But the road was one way, so we couldn't turn back. I tried to make the best of it by walking my bike with him instead of forcing him to try to ride it. And I also apologized a gazzillion times for taking him on such a ride. I didn't want to ruin the fun that road riding is right out of the box.
But yeah, I felt like I was abusing my poor son. Tho he came out of it just fine. And in fact when we rode up a hill here the other day he commented how "easy" it was..Go figure?!

So who knows what was going on w/that family. I do know that sometimes kids need to be pushed to keep going. Spencer LOVES to play tennis, but he didn't want to take lessons. I think it was a fear of failure or standing out in a crowd or something. But I forced him to start lessons and now he LOVES it. Actually he loved it from the first lesson. It was getting him there. I think most humans like to stay in their comfy little box, but being forced out of the box is good for us sometimes.