Last week I removed the training wheels from Megan’s bicycle. According to Megan she is the last student in first grade to learn how to ride on two wheels. I was a clueless as to how to begin instructing Megan. One friend offered up the suggestion to begin on the grass (softer landing spot). Great idea except that pushing a bike through grass takes a lot more effort. I tried bringing Megan out to the sidewalk and keeping a hand behind her seat to steady her. It worked but I felt like I was still too in control of the movements. How was Megan going to get a sense of balance if I was the one doing all the work?
I finally took to my computer (trusty old google search) and found the solution that worked for us. The suggestion was to lower a child’s bike seat so that the child’s feet could touch the ground. Then find a grassy hill and have the child practice controlling the descent to the bottom. As the child becomes more confident and gets a feel for their center of balance, she should transition from keeping her feet close to the ground to pedaling.
I took Megan to the back yard and positioned her on a slight incline. She practiced going down the hill several times with her feet near the ground. She had the power to stop herself any time that she wanted. Eventually she graduated to putting her feet on the pedals. At first I was keeping a hand on her bike to steady it. Within a day Megan was coasting down the hill while pedaling. The expression on her face as she realized that she was balancing on her own was priceless.
We still have some work to do. Megan doesn’t feel comfortable riding on the sidewalk by herself. I have a feeling that it won’t be a long time from now.
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She may be the last one to learn to ride a bike… but she is probably the first kid in her class with a blog.
I remember those day! We also use a hill in the yard for Hannah and it worked great. Caleb learned on the street the same year. Hannah was a little jealous I think!
When I learned to ride a bike, my mom and dad had not scruples. I was just given a good shove-off down the sidewalk. I earned my share of scraped limbs, but I finished that day able to ride by myself. Ha ha. YOur method souds less painful.
Geez, apparently, I am pretty bad at typing, too
That’s a good tip. My daughter just turned 6 and is still using training wheels. We live in culdesac which is on an incline but I never thought of doing it in our backyard. I shall try it over the weekend.