Dear Dr. Rain:
For Christmas I want to buy our 7-year-old daughter a dirt bike, the kind that is motorized. She has AD/HD and is a real outdoors kind of girl. We think it will help her burn off some energy and it could be an incentive to work harder in school. There are even competitions she could eventually enter. The longer we wait to give her the bike, the further behind she will be in competitions. I know I would’ve loved this bike as a kid. Her mom thinks it’s a bad idea and would rather buy her a Wii. We agreed to listen to your ideas about this.
Signed,
Speed Demon
Dear Speed Demon,
One of the fun things about raising children is that it allows us to re-visit our own childhood. Watching our children enjoy an activity gives us a vicarious thrill, especially when it is something we had wanted to do as a child but never was allowed to do. In that respect, I understand your desire to give your daughter this gift. However, sometimes we lose sight of how young our children are in an effort to shower them with adult or teen gifts and privileges which we were denied.
First and foremost, I think you should know some statistics. There are about 10,000 children injured each year on these motorized bikes that end up in the Emergency Room, and about 10 deaths per year. 
(The figure of 10,000 children injured each year is an underestimate of all injuries since it does not include children who were treated outside of the ER, such as at the doctor’s office.) Of the ER injuries, 39 percent were serious injuries such as internal damage or bad fractures. Head and neck injuries account for about 16 percent of the serious injuries.
In light of these statistics, and their knowledge about the physical and mental limitations of children, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that children under 16 years old not ride dirt bikes (motocross bikes) or ATVs.
As a psychologist I would view your daughter at an even higher risk for injury. Children are impulsive — that is the nature of children because of the biology of their brain. Children who have AD/HD are exceptionally impulsive, and their judgment is typically worse than the average child, no matter how smart they are.
Let’s think about this: children are able to engage in pretend play to the extent that it seems almost real to them (that is why they can believe in myths such as Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, until told otherwise). Can you imagine putting a child who can fantasize and has bad impulse control on a motorized two-wheeler that can go at fairly high speeds? It is a recipe for fun and a recipe for a disaster.
In America, our culture pressures parents to hurry their children through childhood. They are given teenage hobbies and interests long before they reach adolescence. I think that these motocross competitions in early childhood (they start as young as 4 years old I have been told!) are just another manifestation of this push to grow up so soon.
You might be correct that if you wait too long, she will no longer be competitive. But then again, she will be alive and she will likely not have sustained serious injury in her other pursuits. Childhood can be dangerous: bicycles, monkey bars, school bullies, crossing streets on the way to school, roller skating, pedophiles and so forth. We cannot protect kids from every single danger. However, to put a 7-year-old girl with or without AD/HD on a dirt bike is courting disaster. There are plenty other fun outdoors activities that are available for children!
