It was Veteran's Day yesterday which meant that Ed, Tiffany, and their boys were all home from school or work so they chose this time to come over to our house for a bicycle afternoon. The boys' bikes have been here for some time awaiting just such an opportunity. Still, the first thing that needed to be done was for Edward to check out the mechanical soundness of each of the bikes and, while he was at it, raise the training wheels on Jake's bike about an inch which is as far as they go.
Jake tried out the bicycle before the wheels were raised. As you can see he felt really confident.
Meanwhile Tiffany tried getting Timmy going without training wheels. He made some good runs before running onto the lawn or the fence in front of our property.
When Tiffany got tired, she stopped and just watched the action while tending Camdan.
This also gave Grandma Carolyn a chance to help out.
It was Veteran's Day yesterday which meant that Ed, Tiffany, and their boys were all home from school or work so they chose this time to come over to our house for a bicycle afternoon. The boys' bikes have been here for some time awaiting just such an opportunity. Still, the first thing that needed to be done was for Edward to check out the mechanical soundness of each of the bikes and, while he was at it, raise the training wheels on Jake's bike about an inch which is as far as they go.
Jake tried out the bicycle before the wheels were raised. As you can see he felt really confident.
Meanwhile Tiffany tried getting Timmy going without training wheels. He made some good runs before running onto the lawn or the fence in front of our property.
When Tiffany got tired, she stopped and just watched the action while tending Camdan.
This also gave Grandma Carolyn a chance to help out.
Well, I've taught three kids to ride a bike, and while I don't remember the website that had the instructions (try googling "Learn to Ride a Bike in one day") but here is what worked.
ReplyDelete1. Take off the pedals of the bike and go to a place with a good hill on grass.
2. Let the kid coast down the grassy hill. They can use their feet as much as they like. The hill lets them not worry about moving the bike forward and with no pedals they can touch the ground without interference.
3. Once the kid is comfortable coasting down the hill, put the pedals back on. They still don't worry about pedaling, but just getting used to having the pedals there and occasionally putting their feet on them.
4. When they feel comfortable they start pedaling.
5. Soon they will pedal away from the hill and will have confidence to ride with just a little bit of a start. (Learning to start themselves takes a while.)
I should note the child has to be ready. Perry learned the first time I tried this in Summer of 2006. Libby coasted down a few times but didn't quite get the knack. Then Sage learned the first time I tried it on her shortly after we married. Libby was several months later. Brooke still hasn't gotten it, but she isn't even 5 yet. It is probably about time to try again.