Bikes! (and Making Bike Rides Easier for You)

When I was a kid, I wasn't all that concerned with learning to ride a bike without training wheels. Our house was surrounded by evil dogs in the front (which prevented me from playing in our driveway), two families that our family hung out with in the back, and a neighborhood park with mature trees, a fabulous sledding hill, and a playground on the side. There wasn't really a need for me to ride a bike. There was no place to go.

One day, my sister (younger than me by a year and a half) came home from spending the night at a friend's house. She asked to have the training wheels taken off of her bike. I still clearly remember standing on the sidewalk as she jumped on the bike and rode down the sidewalk.

She had the nerve to learn to ride a bike at her friend's house while I sat at home completely unaware.

I, being a ridiculously competitive person, couldn't stand for my younger sister to be able to do something as momentous a thing as ride a bike while I stood on the sidewalk watching. As soon as she stopped, I grabbed the bike and took my turn.

It wasn't pretty.

It wasn't straight.

But I rode that bike without falling on my face.

Unfortunately, my kids didn't learn how to ride their bikes at a friend's house nor on their own to prove their worthiness. I had to teach them. 

Recently, we had Turken out for the first time without training wheels. I basically do what these people say to do.

Start by getting the feeling of trying to balance

Practice balancing while coasting downhill

Start trying to pedal while coasting downhill. This is the step that includes some falling.

Impatient parent scraps the plan and goes with helping child to balance/choke the child.

Go back to original plan.

He managed to ride all the way down the hill by himself several times.

And moved on to trying on flat ground. He's almost got it!

What I want to help you with, though, is how to avoid becoming a crazy person when you go for a walk and let your new bike rider ride his bike.

You know, the crazy person who runs behind the bike rider screaming, "SLOW DOWN!" and "WAIT FOR ME!" and "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, STOOOOOOOP!"

The rules are simple.

1. I give the kids a landmark where they must stop. Examples are the second mailbox, the purple flowers, or the driveway with the red car.

2. They ride ahead as fast as they want to go.

3. They reach the landmark and stop.

4. They wait for me to get to the landmark or ride back to me.

5. When I get to the landmark, I give them another one.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 until you make it back to your house.

The first time you do this, and you watch your child pedaling off away from you, your heart will be thumping in your throat. You will probably be praying the entire time...Please stop. Please stop. Pleasestoppleasestoppleasestoooooooop!

And then he will.

Stop, that is.

I have been using this...this...strategy?...for 13 years, and not just with bike riding. When we hike, play at the playground, leave preschool, or do anything in which the kids want to run ahead, we do the landmark thing. In all of that time, through 6 kids, they have always stopped. Even before they were old enough to ride a bike. (Every once in a while, they get a bit confused by the directions and stop at the wrong thing, but they always stop.) And so have their friends.

Just make sure you explain it to them and practice it in a safe area. Perhaps on a sidewalk or the park.

If you try it, let me know how it goes!

How did you learn to ride a bike? How did you teach your kids?

Have a lovely day!