posted by Dad on Jan 22
I am hoping the girls can get rid of their training wheels this summer...
Step 1, PURCHASE THE SMALLEST BIKE you can find. A small bike that a 2 or 3 year old can sit on with his or her feet completely flat on the ground. Don’t be distracted by all the beautiful bikes that they can grow into. Buy the SMALLEST bike possible –period. You can upgrade to a cool bike later after they learn how to ride.
Step 2, REMOVE THE PEDALS – Make sure the seat is in the lowest possible position and then unscrew the pedals, yes, take them completely off. Before peddling comes balancing, so take off those pedals because they will just confuse your kid while he or she should be concentrating on balancing.
Step 3, COASTING & CHEER LEADING – Find a small incline, almost flat but with just enough of an angle to let your kid practice slowly coasting on the bike. Let them coast down and walk back up as many times as they want with their feet sliding on either side of the bike. This lets them get the balance and the steering down pat before you put the pedals back on. And this way they will never fall down!
And your Job is to cheer every time they make it down the hill! Clap and scream and hug them as if they just one a gold medal! This is perhaps the most important part to get them excited to want to learn, you MUST do this. Don’t worry about people watching, you’ll just look like the best parent in the world to anyone who happens to see you whooping it up with your kid. So always stand at the bottom of the hill and drag them off of the seat and hug them each time they make it down!
Step 4, PEDALS BACK ON – Screw on the Pedals and let them practice pedaling and coasting down the small hill as many times as it takes until they are completely confident. More hugs, clapping and loud screaming whistling happiness!
Step 5, RAISE THE SEAT – Without the child knowing it, slowly raise the seat one notch at a time – let them continue riding then do it again when they aren’t looking, so that the child eventually has to touch the ground with just his or her tippy toes on either side of the bike which is the proper height for bike riding.
Your kids won’t mind, because THEY WILL BE RIDING A BIKE! And never once will they fall and break a bone or bloody a knee or loose their trust in you for pushing them and letting go like all the other parents in the world are doing.
This is the only painless FUN way to learn to ride a bike! And it only takes one day! One day that can be recorded forever on video to show their friends that they never fell down once learning to ride a bike – umm they must.
I love riding bikes! I’ll zoom around exploring on bikes until they day I die!
I live in Tokyo Japan and think riding bikes downtown is better than any video game ever made!
Raven-Dance
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