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I’ve had the privilege of ‘training’ three kids to ride bikes. As those of us who ride bikes know, there is no way to explain how to do it. Running alongside th

I’ve had the privilege of ‘training’ three kids to ride bikes. As those of us who ride bikes know, there is no way to explain how to do it. Running alongside the kid with a hand on them (or on the handlebars) is useless. Training wheels are useless. The only way for the kid to ‘get it’ is to allow the bike to fall: only when they start to fall, and they instinctively jerk the handlebar the other way, will their muscles ‘understand.’ It only took a couple hours with each kid... pushing them up to speed and then letting go. They’d fall, there would be tears, and we’d try it again. And, then, after several scraped knees and bruised shins, that magical moment would occur when some little cluster of neurons finally makes the new connections, and voila... they’d be bike riders. All the tears and frustration would be replaced by euphoria. Clearly a two or three year old, perhaps, is better off with a scooter or balance bike. But, as an old fart, watching 7 and 8 year olds in the park riding ‘balance bikes’, I get the sneaking suspicion that the parents are stretching out a couple-hour process to a couple-month or year process merely because they can’t permit themselves to let the kid wipe out. Don’t even get me started with swimming...

scarecrowbob 6y ago
I trained two kiddos using the parent's method. Taking the pedals off seemed functional equivalent to a balance bike, and I taught my 4 and 5 year old to ride their bikes the same afternoon. Same with swimming. It's kinda goody to judge other parents, tho. A lot of stuff that is easy for me is hard for other folks. But I've been divorced twice, and a lot of folks haven't. So very difficult to judge. I don't, in general, think that your description of why folks aren't teaching the kiddos using your method is accurate. IME, most folks are just ignorant that it can be done at all.
- lurquer 6y ago
  Didn’t mean to come across as TOO judgmental... obviously I don’t assume to know the details of every parent-child relationship in the world when it comes to bikes. But, getting back to the article, I’m somewhat dubious about the assumption that humanity just stumbled upon the idea of a balance-bike due to some mental fog that prevented us from considering it. I think it might be more likely that parenting-styles have changed a bit and there is now a market for a bike-teaching tool that is safer. In other words, I suspect that if you presented a dad in the 1950s with a balance bike and explained it was a tool to more gradually and safely get a child pedaling, he might scratch his head and say, “why would I use that? When the kid is old enough to ride a bike, I’ll be able to show him how in a single afternoon.”
chapium 6y ago
This also happens when there is a younger sibling who shares the bike.

scarecrowbob 6y ago

I trained two kiddos using the parent's method. Taking the pedals off seemed functional equivalent to a balance bike, and I taught my 4 and 5 year old to ride their bikes the same afternoon. Same with swimming. It's kinda goody to judge other parents, tho. A lot of stuff that is easy for me is hard for other folks. But I've been divorced twice, and a lot of folks haven't. So very difficult to judge. I don't, in general, think that your description of why folks aren't teaching the kiddos using your method is accurate. IME, most folks are just ignorant that it can be done at all.

lurquer 6y ago
Didn’t mean to come across as TOO judgmental... obviously I don’t assume to know the details of every parent-child relationship in the world when it comes to bikes. But, getting back to the article, I’m somewhat dubious about the assumption that humanity just stumbled upon the idea of a balance-bike due to some mental fog that prevented us from considering it. I think it might be more likely that parenting-styles have changed a bit and there is now a market for a bike-teaching tool that is safer. In other words, I suspect that if you presented a dad in the 1950s with a balance bike and explained it was a tool to more gradually and safely get a child pedaling, he might scratch his head and say, “why would I use that? When the kid is old enough to ride a bike, I’ll be able to show him how in a single afternoon.”

chapium 6y ago

This also happens when there is a younger sibling who shares the bike.