Teaching my kid how to ride a bike

I still remember the day my dad put me on the purple bike with the flowerprint banana seat, got me peddling and then let me go.

I still remember crashing into the fence, hitting the ground and looking at him, wailing “Why did you let gooooooooo??????!?!?!?”

But I got up, tried it again and the second time was a charm. I never looked back. That bike was my freedom, my chariot to roam the neighbourhood until the streetlights came on.

So I thought it would be easy – no problem at all – to teach my kids how to ride a bike.

Please, please, hold back your laughter, I now know how foolish that sounds. Never use the word easy when describing teaching a child how to ride a bike.

After countless, breathless efforts of me running down the sidewalk holding his seat, of trying to keep up with him and keep him from steering us both into a fence (No thanks, been there and done that!) I returned to the drawing board. I borrowed a friend’s “Balance Buddy“. It’s a handle that fits on the back, making it easier to control the kid’s bike.

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So it’s been 2 years of trying to teach my son how to ride a bike. I think two years is long enough for me to admit defeat. I was, in fact, admitting defeat to a friend when she mentioned a local bike program that everyone swears by.

Forget the $29.99 for a Balance Buddy, the $35 it cost for the Learn-to-Ride program at Bike Works has proven to be the best money I ever spent.

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These pros are true bike enthusiasts. They see and understand your child’s movements and know how to adjust and motivate them – how to correct what they’re doing wrong, and how to improve on what they’re doing right.

It was a HUGE improvement over me running alongside of my son, panting and yelling.

I learned three things from these lessons:

A) A balance bike – They took the pedals off of the kids’ bikes and had them do a number of exercises just pushing themselves around by foot. It got them balancing and coasting. It gave them confidence.

B) A tune up – We’d bought what we thought was a good bike from a good bike shop, but it had some issues and those issues were making it hard to learn. We didn’t realize it, and the shop was careless in their tuning. A good bike mechanic is key. The Bike Works team noticed the issues – which were half the battle.

C) Confidence. The balance bike taught the balance part, and putting the peddling part together with balance was easier. Especially with the praise of strangers.

I think my son had, by year two, resolved to the fact that he was never going to get it, and no matter how much running up and down the street I did with him, it was never going to work out. But having someone who *loves* cycling and worked one-on-one with him was more motivating and worked better with his needs.

At first I was a bit bummed that I had failed. I couldn’t teach him. Then I realized, he’s riding. I’m not yelling, running or panting. So what if I didn’t teach him, I found the right teacher for him.

I’m calling it a parenting win!