I have a question for you lovely ladies. You always give such good advice so I thought I would tap into some of the parenting experience out there. I have seven year old twin boys. We got them two wheel bikes for their birthday and they are both balking at learning for fear they will fall. I thought maybe seeing their new friends (we just moved) all riding might inspire them, but it doesn't. My husband has been helping them when they've let him and he is quite big and fairly strong so I feel that they have a bit of security when he's holding onto the bikes with them. Anyway, I was just curious if any of you had some advice on how to approach this little milestone in their life. They both seem to have a tendancy toward coach-potatoism despite my very active lifestyle, and I try to encourage without nagging, to keep them moving. Thanks for any words of wisdom you might have.
Calling all moms
- Thread starter texasmom
- Start date
mogambo
Cathlete
The more you just wait until they want to ride their bicycles, the sooner they will ride them. The more you push, the more they sulk and act babyish and come up with "reasons" why they don't want to. Just leave them alone, it might be a year or two, but once they really want to, and they almost certainly will, they will just do it. Do any of you know a single male teenager who can't ride a bicycle? 
Hi TexasMom,
I wish I could offer you good advice, but unfortunately I don't know the answer. My 5 year old son is not interested at all in his bike either. He loves his big wheel (boy have we got our $12.00 worth out of that thing!) He also loves his kett car (pedal car). He is non-stop movement so I don't have to encourage him to engage in physical activity - we have the opposite problem of trying to get him to stop moving and calm down.
Do you think your boys might like the Tae Bo junior video? My son loves to play along with Cardio Kicks sometimes (for about 10 or 15 minutes).
Anyway, I'm sure someone here will be able to give you some suggestions. Good luck.
Lisa
I wish I could offer you good advice, but unfortunately I don't know the answer. My 5 year old son is not interested at all in his bike either. He loves his big wheel (boy have we got our $12.00 worth out of that thing!) He also loves his kett car (pedal car). He is non-stop movement so I don't have to encourage him to engage in physical activity - we have the opposite problem of trying to get him to stop moving and calm down.
Do you think your boys might like the Tae Bo junior video? My son loves to play along with Cardio Kicks sometimes (for about 10 or 15 minutes).
Anyway, I'm sure someone here will be able to give you some suggestions. Good luck.
Lisa
E
ebh87
Guest
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-26-02 AT 08:52AM (Est)[/font][p]I agree with mogambo about just letting them do it when they are ready. My oldest son is a very cautious kid and learned to ride his bike by starting with training wheels and eventually the training wheels wore down so much, he was practically balancing on his own and the transition was easy. But, when he outgrew his first bike, he was absolutely terrified of the next size up and refused to ride it no matter how silly he looked on the smaller bike. It took him over 2 years to finally ride the bigger bike.
I have 7 and a half year old twin boys who are both riding 2 wheelers. One is determined to be like the big kids, so he was easy and did it on his own. My other son has some fine/gross motor delays so we didn't even bother with him, but some neighbor kids said things to him about using training wheels and that motivated him to do it on his own and he learned quickly.
Something will eventually motivate your boys to learn! I do think that if you push them, though, it could become a battle of wills and they will never want to ride their bikes.
Good luck! Wish I could have been more helpful!
Erica
I have 7 and a half year old twin boys who are both riding 2 wheelers. One is determined to be like the big kids, so he was easy and did it on his own. My other son has some fine/gross motor delays so we didn't even bother with him, but some neighbor kids said things to him about using training wheels and that motivated him to do it on his own and he learned quickly.
Something will eventually motivate your boys to learn! I do think that if you push them, though, it could become a battle of wills and they will never want to ride their bikes.
Good luck! Wish I could have been more helpful!
Erica
Bike height
Hi!
One thing that made a tremendous difference in both our daughters learning to ride their bikes was the height of the bike. They actually learned to ride without training wheels on a bike that was a little too small for them since that way their feet could be firmly and easily planted on the ground when they were sitting on the bike seat. It gave them much more confidence and less fear that they could touch the ground so easily and not just with their tip-toes and they were more willing to learn.
Once they learned on the smaller bike, we then moved them to their regular bikes but with the seat in its lowest position.
Give it a try and be sure to let us know how they're doing! Good luck!
Bev K.
Hi!
One thing that made a tremendous difference in both our daughters learning to ride their bikes was the height of the bike. They actually learned to ride without training wheels on a bike that was a little too small for them since that way their feet could be firmly and easily planted on the ground when they were sitting on the bike seat. It gave them much more confidence and less fear that they could touch the ground so easily and not just with their tip-toes and they were more willing to learn.
Once they learned on the smaller bike, we then moved them to their regular bikes but with the seat in its lowest position.
Give it a try and be sure to let us know how they're doing! Good luck!
Bev K.
joyceann619
Cathlete
RE: Bike height
My 9 year old son learned to ride a bike using his 7 year old sister's Barbie bike which was pretty small. He also practiced on grass.
He was afraid of falling too, but I know he wanted to ride really bad. Just be patient and they will let the power of riding a bike outweigh their fear of falling
Joyce
My 9 year old son learned to ride a bike using his 7 year old sister's Barbie bike which was pretty small. He also practiced on grass.
He was afraid of falling too, but I know he wanted to ride really bad. Just be patient and they will let the power of riding a bike outweigh their fear of falling
Joyce