Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Five, five, four, and eleven. The eleven year old was scared of her bike, and I ended up bribing her with a video game she wanted desperately. The best of all possible parenting? Probably not, but it worked.
My daughter was very afraid. The best way we found to train on a bike is to take the pedals off and lower the seat so she can touch the ground. Now when you push her she will feel she is in control because she can keep her feet on the ground. Once she starts feeling comfortable ask her to pick her feet off the ground for a second. Just keep doing this until she can go on two wheels a decent distance from your push with her feet off the ground. By that time she should want to try with the pedals on.
We taught my daughter in a few weeks by doing this. Good Luck
My kids all did it before they turned six. If she's ready, she's ready. If not, don't FORCE her but maybe get on your bike (if you have one) and show her how easy it is.
I won't pressure her and maybe try again in the grass next time. Thanks to all for the suggestions.
Grass is the trick because it doesn't hurt when they fall. We took ours to a baseball outfield. In a hour, they were riding like pros. They were in kindergarten--about 5.
The kids in my neighborhood who are riding bikes w/o training wheels and still fairly young (4 or younger) all have older siblings and no doubt wanted to learn to keep up with them.
My daughter (who's 7 now) learned to ride her bike at age 6. It was hard for her because she's very tall so we had to buy her a larger bike and that bike wouldn't be held up with training wheels anyway. It took months for her to take off on her own. She's not really adventurous anyway, so up and down the street we'd go...her saying under her breath "Oh God...don't let me fall" and us walking her up and down while holding on to her. We tried everything...taking off the pedals and letting her "glide", her starting on an incline and letting the momentum carry her. Nothing seemed to make any progress.
Then...one of her friends rode by on her bike without training wheels and the pressure was on. We kept telling her how awesome it would be to be able to take off with her friend and tell us "See ya", so that seemed to spark something in her and after a few weeks of trying again and again, she finally said "let go...I can do this" and she did.
BTW, she and her friend are only about 6 in her class that ride without training wheels. The kids in our neighborhood are out all day riding bikes, about 1/2 of them are still on training wheels, but the comments are starting..."you STILL have training wheels?".
So...at least in my neighborhood, the age seems to be 6 or 7. They're getting ready to finish up 1st grade at the end of the month, and I predict that by the time 2nd grade rolls around, a lot of them will be riding their bikes to school without training wheels.
Daughter learned to ride a two-wheeler at five going on six, and she required a lot of coaching and support. Son taught himself on a friend's bike at four. We were shocked to look out the door and see him tooling around the cul-de-sac without any assistance.
Last edited by formercalifornian; 05-08-2010 at 05:01 PM..
my oldest learned at age 5. My youngest learned at age 4 (her big sister taught her in two hours. When I left to go to the supermarket my dh was taking off her training wheels. When I returned, she was riding down the driveway to greet me).
The OP reminds me of a situation that happened with the sisters who live accross the road from me. The oldest was 10 and still could not ride a bike. She was afraid of falling, from what I could remember. Then, her 6-year-old sister got a bike for her birthday and learned to ride it without training wheels within a day or two.
That inspired the 10-year-old to learn right away. She didn't want to be outdone by her little sister.
I think bikes should be introduced early to kids. If you wait, then they start to feel self-conscious and will be afraid to try for fear of failing. It becomes a vicious cycle.
Our kids have had wheeley toys since as early as.
They were riding with training wheels when 3
They were riding normal bikes by 5
So somewhere around 4 they must have learned to ride a bike without training wheels.
We found that training wheels actually stuffs up their balance as you have to lean the wrong way but the kids wanted to ride but couldn't so training wheels it was. Then when they wanted them off there was a couple of backbreaking trips to the park where I would push them and hold their shoulders to help with balance as their brains re learned how to balance and lean on a bike. But they would pick it up pretty quick and doing it in the park meant that they could fall onto grass.
My 5 yr old has training wheels still. He’s likely ready for them to come off.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
