Vicki Larson: The most essential back-to-school accessory for tweens

Doesn't it make sense to let an undeveloped prefrontal cortex individual ride them at the same time that distracted motorists are driving more recklessly than ever before, causing a huge spike in traffic accidents and fatalities?

Hey parents, have you done your back-to-school shopping yet?

New backpack, lunchbox, notebooks, pencils and pens?

Don’t forget what may be the most essential middle-school accessory this year — the no-pedal assist fat-tire electric bike that’s really a motor scooter. You know the ones I’m talking about.

And parents must be buying them for their kids because, even though at about $2K a pop they’re a heck of a lot cheaper than many other electric bikes, they’re pretty much out of reach for 12- and 13-year-olds, although who knows what Marin kids are getting for their allowance nowadays.

I’m sure you’ve seen kids zipping around your hood, your streets, your sidewalks on them, sometimes two to three on a bike. Sometimes they’re wearing helmets, sometimes they aren’t. The law says anyone under age 18 must wear a helmet on a bike but, hey, who is going to ticket a kid over a helmet even if it may potentially save their noggin, maybe even their life?

The Mill Valley Police even made a video on how to ride e-bikes responsibly — is any parent making their kid watch it (although I have to admit, it is beyond dorky). I don’t know, but there was at least one dad on Nextdoor who chalked up the carelessness of our e-bike-riding youth as “it is what it is.”

He’s right! It is what it is! Parents really have no say in what their tweens do, do they?

As the new school year kicks off, there will no doubt be many more no-pedal assist fat-tire electric bikes that are really motor scooters —you know the ones I’m talking about— on the roads, er, sidewalks, because no self-respecting Marin tween would be seen without one. You know how it goes — a few kids have something cool and then everyone has to have the same thing.

Doesn’t it make sense to let an undeveloped prefrontal cortex individual ride them at the same time that distracted motorists are driving more recklessly than ever before, causing a huge spike in traffic accidents and fatalities? Who knew that three years of a pandemic would change the way we drive for the worse?

But that’s not the real reason why they may be the most important school accessory.

My friend tells me why. See, when she was a pediatric nurse in San Francisco, her young dialysis patients always appreciated an “it is what it is” attitude because their lives depended on it. They needed kidneys. They particularly loved the Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays — they were practically drooling in anticipation, she says — because that’s when they knew they might get what they need. That’s when there were always a crop of new organ donors.

When she took them to see the musical “Annie” when it swung through San Francisco, the kids changed the words to “Tomorrow” to bet their bottom dollar that their kidney — not the sun — will come tomorrow. Kids will be kids!

You bet I want to see kids having fun on bikes as much as possible. Except the popular bikes among the tween set — you know the ones — all are pedal assist, but the throttle provides a boost of oomph even when the rider isn’t pedaling. It’s too easy to reach maximum miles per hour without any effort or sweat. And that makes a difference, or at least that’s what a recent analysis of emergency department data indicates.

It’s true that all e-bike riders — I’m one of them, but I have to pedal or my bike won’t work — were more likely to suffer internal injuries and be hospitalized compared to other cyclists in recent years, but those riding powered scooters were much more likely to get a concussion. And — no surprise! — 10- to-14-year-olds made up the largest group of people injured by riding a powered scooter.

There’s a reason why ER docs and other medical staff call motorcycles “donorcycles.”

But, hey — it is what it is!

There are more than 1,900 children under the age of 18 who are in need of an organ. More than 25% of them are under 5 years old. There just aren’t enough organ donations to meet the needs of anyone at any age, but it’s more challenging for children. “If it’s too big, it would not fit well in the chest. If it’s too small, it may not do as good of a job,” says Dr. Swati Sehgal, a pediatric transplant cardiologist at Children’s Hospital in Michigan.

And with more than 22,000 adults and children on the organ transplant waiting list, California ranks first among all states of people in need.

So parents, please, get your kid that no-pedal assist fat-tire electric bike that’s really a motor scooter — you know the ones I’m talking about — for the new school year so they can be cool, and let them fly free on Marin’s streets and sidewalks, helmets and traffic laws be damned! It is what it is!

There are more than 22,000 Californians who’d like to thank you.

Vicki Larson’s So It Goes opinion column runs every other week. Contact her at vlarson@marinij.com and follow her on Twitter at OMGChronicles.