i am often amazed at the excitement and attention i often get from kids when i ride by - they point, they jump around excitedly or whatever - and it seems even more from young kids in the 2-6 age range before most even have learned to ride a bicycle. anyway, it got me thinking... do kids naturally relate better to bicycles than cars? do they identify with bikes b/c they see cars as 'boring adult stuff' and bikes as something cool the 'older' kids use? or do they just like biikes b/c they can imagine themselves using one? (although if so, then why don't kids get excited IMAGINING driving a car?)
i try and think back to when i was a kid and i remember being fascinated with fire trucks and bicycles, but had no interest in fast cars or muscle cars or pickup trucks or wanting to drive a car or whatever... then after learning the social 'value' that is placed on autos i became auto-crazed starting about age 14 in expectation of earning a driver's license and getting to drive... and when i got my car i abandoned my bicycle for 3 years.
so can this be thought of simply the 'natural' progression of first wanting a bicycle and then 'grduating' to a car? or as a natural human interest in bicycles that is then overridden by society's value of the car? (i.e. peer pressure overcoming the natural and innate)
i would imagine most people guessing the former, but i favor more the latter. it's too bad children's natural interest in bicycles is more often discouraged in the interests of safety than encourage these days.