Riding by herself

[singletrackmind]

Way back when (maybe 17 years ago?) I used to ride to school. It was probably about 3 miles. We were very poor, and dad needed the car for work. I remember mom and dad taking me on the route and pointing out the "safe houses" where I could go if I got scared. Don't remember what the program was called, but designated safe houses had a child sticker on the front window so kids could know they could go there... We rode the route a few times. I didn't have any bike repair supplies or a cell phone. But it was fun.

Might be a good idea to give her some options of what she can do if she starts to feel unsafe at any given point of the ride. Even though I never had to run to a safe house, I knew where it was in case I needed it. More than likely she won't need the options, but it wouldn't hurt.

In St. Louis county they're called Block Homes. The program is a little rigamarole to get into but not too bad, if you're around about the time kids are going to or coming from school look into it by calling the elementary school in your district. We have an 8 1/2 x 11 card in a front window to let kids know we're a safe home. I did it even without school-age children in my district. The more the merrier.

I'd heard that thing about 911 calls on out of service phones too, but don't know if it's still any good either.

[Blueberry]

Watch out for analog only phones (i.e. really old). They either already have or are going to soon shut off the networks. Otherwise, yes you can call 911 from a non-active phone.

CA

[OakLeaf]

I'm not sure about decommissioned phones, but a locked phone will call 911. (Although something tells me that if you're hesitating to get a phone for her, you probably don't have your old decommissioned phones lying around the house.)

However, I can think of lots of scenarios where she'd want to call you and not 911. Just for example, she has a minor crash, no broken bones but she's shook up, or the bike's broken beyond what she can fix. Or she lands on her head and she knows that she shouldn't ride one more inch in a helmet that's suffered an impact. Or even an especially upsetting day in school. I think one of the things we need to instill in kids is that when we're in traffic, our attention needs to be 100% on the road, and part of that is acknowledging that once in a while there are times that we're too distraught to be on the road at all.

Plus, even if a 911 call were appropriate, what a scary (and embarrassing) thing for a kid to have to call 911 and have strangers come and get you and know that your parents don't even know about it - and then have to explain to the EMTs or the cops why you didn't call your parents.

As someone else pointed out, you can and should monitor her call log and punish her if she's abusing the phone. You don't even have to physically look at the phone to do it, you can do it on the phone company's website.

Plus, so many people (particularly older people) assume that the only reason to carry a phone is in case they have an emergency. Well, what if you have an emergency while she's on her way home from school? Wouldn't you want to be able to tell her (or in the worst case, have someone else tell her) what's going on? I used to get furious at DH when he'd forget to carry his phone - not that I ever did have an emergency, but what if I had? I get angry at my own parents for carrying a phone but keeping it powered off.

Okay, done ranting. I know, I lived more than half of my life before there were such things as cell phones, and I survived okay, but I also rode a whole lot of miles without a helmet too. Two things I can't imagine ever doing again.

[indigoiis]

My daughter had a tracfone from ages 12-14 and never abused it; I was very happy to be able to call her in a pinch if a.) I was not able to pick her up on time and b.) for her to call me when her walking home plans changed. We bought her the minimal minutes and she used less than that. Just this past June, her Dad got her a cell phone plan. She is quite conservative with that as well. It has been a very nice tool for monitoring her whereabouts when she is walking between school and my office, or when she is with her Dad and I need a quick answer to a schedule question or just want to say hi.

Frankly, I don't get on my bike without my phone... maybe I'm overly cautious but the world is not like it used to be.