Five Easy Steps To Teach Your Kid To Ride A Bike
Look, I thought I was going to be that parent that casually bragged, “and just like that, he took off on his own the first time we tried teaching him!” But I have a super risk adverse and cautious kid, and our journey has been a big longer. There’s a chance that you might be in my shoes too.
I guess I’ll start by admitting my mistakes. I did that exact thing I know not to do. After not being able to find any used high quality kids bikes in our area, I went to Target and got the cheapest and smallest bike in stock. It was still too big for my son, and weighed nearly as much as my own. My son was excited to see a new bike, but quickly came to resent it. It was too big for him, was heavy and clunky, and crushed his spirits every time he tried to ride.
After a year of failures, we were finally able to get our hands on a quality, lightweight bike (Parents, we could talk about WHEN to invest in gear for hours. But that’s a topic for another day.) My kid was super hesitant our first day out. But after 3 mini sessions, he was up and riding circles around me on his own! And feeling confident! This is a HUGE DIFFERENCE from our year of struggling. Before heading out for our first session, I watched a few videos and read a few blogs. Here is what worked!
1. Master Balance Bikes
Several people suggest taking the pedals off of your kiddos bike to let them get used to the balance aspect of biking. We had mastered balance bikes, so I was less concerned. Instead I took a tip from Casey Albert who teaches kids how to ride bikes. She suggested having Huck thrust his bike forward with his feet as far as he could go, and gliding on his bike (similar to a balance bike) with his feet on his pedals. This massively helped. Casey cautions against training wheels, and swears by balance bikes.
2. Hands Off the Handlebars
I was tempted to hold onto the handlebars with my hands to get him going, but this video cautioned against it. I was surprised to see that this instructor also suggests not even holding onto the bike seat. This was super helpful for us. I actually used a lot of tips from this video. Worth a watch!
3. Finding the Path of Least Resistance
The first afternoon out, I noticed that my son was struggling to pedal. Our neighbor across the street was watching, and pointed out that we were on a slight incline. After we switched direction to going slightly downhill, he totally got the motion of pedaling.
4. Keep it Light and Fun
Instead of hunkering down for an intensive session, I decided to follow Huck’s lead (much like when we ski). He can get frustrated with himself if he doesn’t pick something up right away. I notice that he closes off to learning when he is frustrated. We had a few mini sessions, where we played with his bike in the street for 15 mins or so, and ended on a high. This is necessary for Huck. I’ve seen him really spiral into feeling bad about himself when I’ve “encouraged” him too far out of his comfort level.
5. Step Back
This is the hardest part for us parents! When I can tell that my kiddo is anxious, I don’t want to let him fall and feel worse about himself. But Coach Casey suggests trying NOT to help your child, and only stepping in if they need a confidence boost. This might have been the biggest part of what was holding us back earlier. On our third session out, I was running right along side the bike, pretending to be ready to catch him. He was wobbling back and forth a bit. After I stopped running next to his bike, and cheered from a ways behind, he totally straightened up and took off!
