How to Teach Your Child to Ride a Bike Without Training Wheels
If you have a son or daughter that is approaching the age at which their friends are starting ride bikes, you will need to know how to help them cope with the struggle to balance and ride without the training wheels.
In my case, my son was particularly frightened of getting on the bike without the security of the training wheels there to balance him. Each time we would try to have him give it a go, he was already defeated before we even got started due to his freight.
He actually was somewhat fearless on the first few occasions of trying to ride without the training wheels...until he fell. From that point on he began to approach the bike with a new found fear. I saw this as good and bad, since I did want him to respect the bike and the fact that he could get hurt if he did not properly operate it. However, that fear could wait as far as I was concerned.
We tried and tried and each time it was the same struggle. He would not go more than a few feet before ditching the bike and bailing out.
And then one day I had an epiphany...
Since he wanted to drag his feet and not use the pedals (his feet actually were taking the place of the missing training wheels) I decided to run with it and I actually removed the pedals altogether. I actually unscrewed them and set them on a shelf in the garage. I also lowered the seat as far as it would go so that he could sit flat footed on the bike. Once I did that, he got his confidence back. First problem solved.
With his courage back, I decided to see if he could glide using only his feet to balance when needed. To my amazement, he actually began to coast without my assistance after a few attempts! Sensing that we had made a real breakthrough, I encouraged him to take longer glide runs until finally he was going so fast, he had to pull his feet up off the ground. He was actually balancing the bike without realizing what he was doing.
We repeated this gliding exercise for a few days and I asked him if he wanted to try out the pedals. He said, "Sure Dad, why not". So on our next ride, I had screwed the pedals back on, and raised the seat just a few inches to make it more natural for him to pedal. He could still flat foot the bike from this seat position though, which is what I wanted him to do in case he lost the pedals for some reason.
This technique soon resulted in him completely learning to ride on his own. I've since shared this accidental technique with all of my friends with small children and everyone I've shared it with has been amazed at how effective it works. I hope you find it useful to.
In my case, my son was particularly frightened of getting on the bike without the security of the training wheels there to balance him. Each time we would try to have him give it a go, he was already defeated before we even got started due to his freight.
He actually was somewhat fearless on the first few occasions of trying to ride without the training wheels...until he fell. From that point on he began to approach the bike with a new found fear. I saw this as good and bad, since I did want him to respect the bike and the fact that he could get hurt if he did not properly operate it. However, that fear could wait as far as I was concerned.
We tried and tried and each time it was the same struggle. He would not go more than a few feet before ditching the bike and bailing out.
And then one day I had an epiphany...
Since he wanted to drag his feet and not use the pedals (his feet actually were taking the place of the missing training wheels) I decided to run with it and I actually removed the pedals altogether. I actually unscrewed them and set them on a shelf in the garage. I also lowered the seat as far as it would go so that he could sit flat footed on the bike. Once I did that, he got his confidence back. First problem solved.
With his courage back, I decided to see if he could glide using only his feet to balance when needed. To my amazement, he actually began to coast without my assistance after a few attempts! Sensing that we had made a real breakthrough, I encouraged him to take longer glide runs until finally he was going so fast, he had to pull his feet up off the ground. He was actually balancing the bike without realizing what he was doing.
We repeated this gliding exercise for a few days and I asked him if he wanted to try out the pedals. He said, "Sure Dad, why not". So on our next ride, I had screwed the pedals back on, and raised the seat just a few inches to make it more natural for him to pedal. He could still flat foot the bike from this seat position though, which is what I wanted him to do in case he lost the pedals for some reason.
This technique soon resulted in him completely learning to ride on his own. I've since shared this accidental technique with all of my friends with small children and everyone I've shared it with has been amazed at how effective it works. I hope you find it useful to.
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