No Training Wheels
My 5 year old daughter has been learning how to ride a bike with pedals off and on for the last few months. We had periods where we tried to learn new things multiple times a week and then weeks where we didn’t ride a bike at all. I felt that pushing her to learn was putting pressure on her and it didn’t seems fun to her if she was scared of the bike. She hasn’t fallen yet because I would run right next to her and catch her if she was tipping over, but the fear is still there.
It didn’t help that we bought a bike that fit her height, but the bike was much heavier than the balance bike she was used to. We went with the Guardian bikes when we got her a bike with pedals and it was intimidating to use. We also went down a gravel hill the first time on the pedal bike with me holding onto the bike, but she turned the wheel to far causing the bike to slip to the side. I had a choice then to let go of the bike and let her fall (not really a choice in my opinion) or to hold on and do everything I could to keep the bike upright. I kept the bike upright and the bike tore up my foot pretty well, it my daughter didn’t fall. I think that really scared her on the bike for a while.
My wife got the idea to use the smaller pedal bike we ordered for my 4 year old son and it seemed like my daughter was more comfortable riding it. She ended up being able to navigate with it more and even though she could ride in a straight line unassisted with the larger bike, she was more confident with this smaller bike. It took her a few more tries and she was able to navigate some curves.
The other day, I was trying to teach my daughter how to start the bike from a standstill so she didn’t need any help to bike. Step by step I taught her to try and press one foot on the pedal to start the bike moving forward and even though it didn’t quite work out the way that I was advising, I let her play around with how she wanted to start the bike. I noticed she would use her feet to start rolling the bike forward sort of how she used the balance bike and I went with it to tell her to then put her feet on the pedals. It ended up working really well and she had so much fun that day riding the bike on the sidewalk.
The next day, she wanted to ride the bike again so I ended up putting on her helmet and jogging with her in case the epiphany from the other day didn’t stick. It did though and she wanted to show her bike skills to my friend who was over for dinner. She was riding up and down the sidewalk all on her own with her little brother on the balance bike and they kept going back and forth for more than thirty minutes. I mentioned to my friend that parenting was not usually this easy (which he completely understands now!), but sometimes it does get that easy every now and then. It was a really enjoyable early evening outside and one where I was a proud parent to a newly minted bike rider.
