A present for mom

Dec 24, 2013 1 min read

To the editor:

I hope every dad will consider giving his wife a special present this season. Not a bad idea for a grandfather to give one to his daughter, as well.

Give her a bicycle helmet. Ignore her cries of “I don’t want to get helmet hair.” Or even the more naive resistance: “No one falls on the bike path, and I only cross Periwinkle Way twice.” I heard somewhere that there are as many as seven bicycle accidents a week here on Sanibel. Many are not reported.

Remind her that when she’s out biking with your kid (who almost always has a helmet on), if she gets knocked over on her bike, or falls sliding on gravel or sand, and smacks that beautiful helmetless head, blood all over the bike path, DOES HER KID KNOW THE NUMBER OF WHO TO CALL TO GET HOME?

Maybe the real clincher to ask her is this: Does she want you to raise her kid alone?

Sincerely, in the Holiday Season.

P.S. To all you tourists with wives and kids. Helmets are free to Bike Renters on the Island.

-Sidney B. Simon

Sanibel