Learning to Ride a Bike

It's been about two years since my kids had their first bikes, which we gave away when we moved across country. At that time they all had training wheels. A month ago, a neighbor gave us a bike that they were no longer using, and much to Joseph and Melodie's surprise, Ethan who is 6 was able to just take of riding. How was this possible that I have a kid who can ride a bike with absolutely no effort on my part? Teaching a kid to ride a bike was on my list of parent burdens, falling into the same column as potty training. Ethan had learned his balance from riding a little razor scooter. So I went out and bought bikes for all the kids at garage sales that weekend. Joe and Mel couldn't ride and were a little jealous of Ethan and embarrassed with themselves. I told Joe to learn the scooter and then he'd be able to ride the bike. Sure enough, he got the scooter down after a few hours and then was able to take off on his bike too. Melodie also recently decided to put the effort into learning balance on the scooter, and after one hour, had the scooter down, and the next morning she was able to ride a bike. It has been the easiest for me and the best way for them to learn to ride a bike - have them practice on a scooter for balance. It's a lot easier for kids to catch themselves from falling off a scooter that's 3 inches off the ground than to stop falling off a bike.

Wesley is too little to go without training wheels, but he is starting to use the scooter!

Abi - too young for a 2 wheeler too. Cute little girl