Why Your Kid Should Start Dirt Bike Riding [12 Practical Reasons]

Whether you’re a mom, dad or grandparent trying to figure out if dirt biking is a good idea for your kid or grandkid, I want to show you the practical benefits that it can have on their life (and yours too!). 

In this article I’m going to explain 12 positive reasons why your kid should start dirt bike riding. 

Maybe your son or daughter is begging you to get them a bike, or you’re just wondering if it’s going to be safe for them, this article is for you!

What your kid will learn from riding a dirt bike

There are so many things your kid can and will learn from dirt biking. One of the most important things is that they have fun – in other words, please don’t continue to force them to ride if they hate riding and have a poor attitude. 

Riding a dirt bike should be a privilege and a way to relieve stress, which leads us to our first reason!

Relieve stress and let out energy

Dirt biking is very unique because it requires a certain amount of focus that most other sports don’t. Since riding on and balancing a dirt bike takes so much focus, everything outside of what you’re doing is pushed aside. 

So if you or your kids are stressed out, riding a dirt bike allows you to forget about those anxieties and just enjoy the moment. 

Off-road community is cool and family-friendly

One of the coolest aspects of riding off-road is the community that you’ll meet if you’re open to it. While there are ‘bad apples’ in every community that ruins it for the rest of us, off-road dirt bikers are some of the coolest, down-to-earth people you’ll meet. 

If you’re a beginner, all you have to do is go to a local trail ride day and introduce yourself and you might be some of the nicest people. The casual off-road scene is generally more chill and relaxing than the competitive moto racing scene. 

A fun way to learn life lessons

Not only is riding a dirt bike fun but your son or daughter will learn lessons that will help strengthen and build them as a person. A new challenging trail or obstacle is frustrating, but the determination of not quitting and trying again will build their character. 

Too many people lack discipline, which is needed if you want to be successful at just about anything. Riding a dirt bike well takes discipline. 

How to stay away from drugs, etc.

It’s not hard to keep your kid away from drugs – one thing that can make a huge difference is allowing them to have another activity that they enjoy. 

Getting your child into dirt biking may cost a decent amount of cash and have some risk involved, but it’s a whole lot better than getting into drugs or something worse for an extracurricular activity. 

Racing – Risk vs reward

Getting your son or daughter into some form of dirt bike racing is another reason to help them gain knowledge and wisdom. 

As they become more skilled, they’ll learn that riding faster and doing more challenging obstacles involves more risk. There is also a reward if they learn how to achieve a higher skill level. 

With that said, the best way to reduce risk is by learning the proper techniques. Too many new riders try to teach themselves how to ride and they end up making bad habits that cause them to ride out of control. 

Competition

Even if they’re not going to race, just riding with friends or family is bound to result in friendly competition. This is good because it will teach them that there is always someone better, which means there’s room to improve – humility. 

On the flip-side, if it gets overly competitive and they have a poor attitude, taking the bike away until they understand what life is really about may be necessary.

Work hard to do better

Want to become a better rider than your riding mates, or someone else in the family? Showing your son or daughter that it sometimes just takes more work (seat time) to do better on a dirt bike.

Lessons aren’t easily taught outside of competition

If you never have some sort of competition in life then it’s hard to get motivated. Whether it’s competition with yourself or with friends, the determination to get better at dirt biking will teach your kids important lessons in life.

Some of them we already talked about, such as working harder, not giving up easily, the simplicity and diligence of consistent work, as well as realizing that life isn’t always fair.

The rider is so much more important

One of the great things about dirt biking is that you don’t need to spend a fortune to get started or even be competitive. So many other sports (especially motorsports) require you to get the best equipment to have the best chance at doing well.

Especially as a beginner or even intermediate level rider, it’s 90% the bike and 10% the rider. For example, you can take a novice rider on the best bike and an expert rider on an older and much slower bike, and the expert rider is going to win virtually every time on a dirt bike course/trail/track.

It’s not until you get to a really high level of riding a dirt bike that a “better bike” is needed. The quickest way to ride better or faster is by “upgrading the rider” (their skills and confidence).

Just don’t turn into a “mini-bike dad”

There’s a lot of “mini-bike dad’s” these days, and that’s simply investing everything you have and own into your kids’ riding. Please don’t do that – it’s not worth it for 99.99% of riders.

Just enjoy the riding and don’t let it completely take over your life, finances, marriage, etc.

Don’t push them unless the kid wants it

If, by chance, that your son or daughter happens to be a really good rider and/or racer, you may feel the need to push them to continue progressing…

This might be a lesson that they need at some point, but if you continue to push him or her when they’ve “lost their love of riding”, it’s no use. You’ll kill their enjoyment if you turn “getting to go riding” into “have to go riding.”

Think about that for a minute.

Make them earn it by working for it to see the value in it

People that are given things without actually working for it don’t have the same mindset as someone who has worked for it, whether it be money or riding a dirt bike at a high level.

When you have to work to achieve a goal, step-by-step, it takes consistency and hard work – only then will your child see how much value there is in their new achievement. Learning to ride a dirt bike well is a great reason to show them how to value things in life.

How to make dirt biking safer

Whether you’re still looking for the right bike to buy or you’ve already gotten your kid started riding a dirt bike, I want to show you how to make it safer and more fun.

It starts with the basics, and this is where many beginners make the mistake of skimming right through this step. I want to give you a practical guide for free as a gift – it shows you the simple and proper techniques to riding a dirt bike with confidence and control. Click or tap here to download it.