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(Ingenious Technique for Helping Your Child Learn to Ride a Bike
October 3rd, 2008 | Posted in usability |
Last night my oldest daughter (who is seven years old) finally learned to ride a bike. After a few painful crashes learning the traditional way (where you just receive a push and try to go), Jane read a tip on one of her mommy blogs about a new method to teach children to ride a bike:
- Remove both pedals from the bike.
- Lower the seat all the way.
- Let the child scoot along with the bike using her feet for as long as she wants. This helps the child learn to balance and feel comfortable on the bike.
- When the child asks for the pedals (my daughter asked for the pedals after two days), reattach them and raise the seat again.
- Now give the child a little push and off she goes.
I was absolutely stunned at what happened. Whereas before she’d been wobbly and would crash after about 25 feet, now she began riding like a pro. Within 5 minutes, it seemed like she’d been riding her bike for years. For a father who felt a certain responsibility in helping his kids learn to ride a bike, watching her cruise down the street with confidence filled me with tremendous pride and gratitude.
My second oldest daughter is almost four. You can bet that I’m already thinking about taking the pedals off her bike.
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October 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
[...] Ingenious Technique for Helping Your Child Learn to Ride a Bike [...]
October 4th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I have bookmarked this site. Thanks Kfz Versicherung
October 4th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I will try this method no doubt, I need only have a child
October 5th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Reminds me of a little show on Treehouse recently where they showed how kids in that country are first given a wooden bike without pedals to use before given a real bike. I can’t for the life of me remember the country, though perhaps it was Holland?
October 5th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
All kids are different. My daughter, who is cautious, had no interest in riding a bike till age 6. On the other hand, my son, showing no fear, jumped on his little bike at age 4 and rode around like a daredevil. Now he is a teenager and unfortunately drives the same way.
October 7th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Great story. You should post it to parenthacks.com.
I had a horrible time learning to ride a bike. I was, by turns, terrified, ashamed, and afraid my dad was going to yell at me. I gave up. A lot.
I finally learned by using a friend’s bike in exactly the way you describe… we didn’t take the pedals off, but the seat was so low I could just push myself along. It worked great. I did this on my own, two or three blocks away from parental eyes, and once I was good at it I came home and told my mom and had her lower the seat on my hand-me-down bike. Voila!
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October 13th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Thank you for the information. It will be helpful when the time comes i will teach my children to ride bike. I also bookmark your page. Great post! thanks.