Two wheelin'
Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 07:00AM Finally. Yesterday we finally convinced Noah to learn to ride a bike without training wheels. To be fair, we haven't really tried all that hard or all too often. This may have been the first time this year that we actually even got the bikes out. (Sad, but true.) So, after almost five years of having various bikes and one or two attempts previously without the training wheels (which lasted all of a few minutes), he got on the bike and started pedaling. And within minutes of Nathan helping him around the cul-de-saq, the boy was two wheelin' all on his own. And lovin' it. I told him so. ;)
;)
Whew. I can now disregard that niggling little worry in the very back of my mind that we wouldn't get him on a two wheeler before he turned 10. ;)
True to form, the younger two followed suit fairly quickly...not actually mastering the two wheel thing but happily volunteering to try it out without the training wheels. (This had been the sticking point with Noah...getting him to try for longer than a few minutes or at all.) Now that Noah's not anti-bike-riding any more (he'd gotten to the point where he never wanted to go out because he'd realized that most kids his age can ride without training wheels...hence the lesson today being while all the neighborhood kids were in school and Nathan was working from home), I anticipate that getting the other two on just two wheels won't be long. Hopefully. ;)
Note. Nathan and I were realizing today, as we were working with the younger two in particular, that those balance bikes (without pedals or training wheels...you can find them at a lot more places these days) are really an excellent idea. If we hadn't already invested in all these bikes, we'd go back and start with one of those for sure. So. If you happen to have a kid just about ready to want a bike...look into those balance bikes first, instead of something with training wheels that will become a crutch and make them apprehensive about learning to balance on their own. Really. I think it will work better. As a bonus, you won't spend your afternoon hunched over a kid on a bike trying to hold the seat and run up and down the street in the 90+ degree heat. All good things. :)
Reader Comments (1)
I've never seen those balance bikes before- those are pretty cool. A few weeks after Reiley learned how to ride without training wheels she broke her left arm (not on her bike- but my parents dog knocked her down). By the time she got her cast off it was winter...she had to relearn it all the next summer! Luckily she took to it quickly.
Good for Noah! It's one of those things that everyone eventually learns...but if you are not interested it just isn't going to happen :)