I was thinking about that when I was dropping my 6 year old off at some hobbies earlier - it’s pretty much expected to have learned how to ride a bicycle before starting school, and it massively expands the area you can go to by yourself. When she went to school by bicycle she can easily make a detour via a shop to spend some pocket money before coming home, while by foot that’d be rather time consuming.

Quite a lot of friends from outside of Europe either can’t ride a bicycle, or were learning it as adult after moving here, though.

edit: the high number of replies mentioning “swimming” made me realize that I had that filed as a basic skill pretty much everybody has - probably due to swimming lessons being a mandatory part of school education here.

    • @[email protected]
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      -21 year ago

      How much do you think I’m talking about? You’d be spending more going to the cinema then a swimming lesson. Obviously it may not translate but if so then at least we’ve found a cause

      • SeaJ
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        21 year ago

        There are limited spots for public swim lessons in my city and they are $150 for a set of lessons. If you go the private route, it is generally at least double that.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          Well that definitely solves the issue. It might be £5-15 a lesson in the UK depending on your age

      • @Perhapsjustsniffit
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        11 year ago

        I never went to the cinema until I was 22. Poor people don’t do that shit.