When did your kids learn to ride a bike?

Beyla

Mon, Jun 24 2019, 2:45 pm

I was quite a fearful kid, didn’t like the huge water slides that all my younger siblings were crazy about, I also didn’t ride a bike till 11 😣 you see the picture.
I eventually learnt to do things but my worst fear was to have my parents push me to accomplish what scared me... I’m sure they meant well but it just made more shy and fearful. 😉
Bh I’m a well adjusted adult, my kids learnt to ride a bike at 4 and 3 😱 and I try hard to don’t show my fears to my own children and let them experiment by themselves.
Trust your kid op, he will go at his own pace and it’s ok 👍

ra_mom

Mon, Jun 24 2019, 2:56 pm

Basya wrote:

OP - where are you located? There is someone in Brooklyn that I hired to teach my kids to ride bikes, and they learned how in under an hour for a very reasonable price. PM me for the phone number if you would like.

Basya I'm not OP but I will pm you for the number.

thunderstorm

Mon, Jun 24 2019, 3:23 pm

One of my sons didn't ride his bike until age 14. He refused every year from age 6 and up when I tried encouraging it. He said he didn't "want" to. He wouldn't even try. I purchased a new bike for him every summer thinking that it would motivate him, but it didn't. Then one day out of the blue when all my other kids were out riding , he took out his adult bike , hopped on and zoomed off as if he was doing it forever. As a teen , he needed it as a mode of transportation and I guess that gave him the push to go and do it.
He is also the kind of kid that has no interest in swimming and will not even put on a bathing suit to sit by the pool. We had tried swimming lessons for him when he was six or seven and the instructor didn't know how to handle his fear of swimming. One day he threw him into the water and he screamed from sheer terror and never went back again. I believe he was traumatized. Some people believe that's the way to teach a child to swim. I'm against it. I developed a fear of water after being thrown into the deep water by an instructor as well. Some kids need to go according to their own pace when they themselves feel ready.
My son enjoys other activities. He has some social shyness as well. But as he gets older and matures he's opening up and shedding his shyness. With some kids , patience and encouragement are the only answers.

amother

Powderblue

Mon, Jun 24 2019, 3:28 pm

With my daughter we had a balance bike and a bike with stabilizers. She is generally a very anxious and scared child but aged 4 she askedto remove the stabilisers, we took her riding a lotand held her by her shoulders/neck, this makes her need to balance and helped me feel when she was tilting so I would tell her to balance out, then one day she just took off! I find the holding shoulder neck very good because it still requires them to balance.