The lesson I'm going to keep learning for the rest of my life.

We've been trying to teach our kids to ride their two wheel bikes for just under a year. It's been a mildly frustrating process because convincing our kids to even get on the bikes to, you know, try to ride. Because generally the process of learning to ride a bike is trial and error.

The error part is what gave Maddie pause. Maddie doesn't like doing things which involve "error", because "error" when riding a bike means falling and I think Maddie's goal in life is to avoid anything which can cause you to fall.

Max was a little bored with the process of learning to ride his bike. He'd try for about two minutes and give up.

Though I know kids do things in their own time and there's no reason to stress about it or push them too much. Still, I also know a few adults who's parents never pushed them to ride a bike and so, they never learned to ride a bike. So I ended up balancing my frustration with my kid's disinterest with riding a bike and my desire for them to actually get on their bikes and just ride.

Thankfully spring fever hit Max hard and he spent a few hours perfecting his technique until he was actually riding his bike!

The pressure of her little brother riding his bike before her forced Maddie to overcome her fear of, gasp, falling off a bike, and now she's also riding. Albeit, reluctantly....when forced...with a scowl on her face.

Now that we can all ride bikes, I have an elaborate fantasy of taking the kids to Amsterdam. But we'll settle for riding up for ice cream.

Comments

[Jenn]

I never learned to ride a bike, I just never got the hang of it and gave up. It wasn't for a lack of trying, I have have no balancing skills whatsoever.

[Jenn]

Or any typing skills, holy crap.

[Lori]

I never really learned to ride a bike either. I mean, I can, but not well, not with confidence. But I promise, it hasn't made me any less of a confident adult or affected my life in any negative way. At least that's what my therapist says. :)

[jennifer70]

Yay for you guys! Our two kids mastered their bikes a few months ago and we have been able to go on many (longer than I would have expected!) family bike rides that we have all enjoyed. Perfect spring/summer activity, too. Have fun.

[Elise Foreman Carter]

Hmm, I think MY goal in life was to avoid doing anything at which I could possibly fail. That worked well until I failed at something. I think my first big failure involved learning snow skiing a black diamond. And woo hoo, that was fun times for everyone, especially my dad, who ended up stuck halfway up the hill while I sat on my butt, crying, refusing to even MOVE, much less come the rest of the way down the hill.

Yay for kids like me and Maddie! Lots of adventures ahead!

(Don't worry, I eventually grew out of the total and complete fear of failure and now I am only MOSTLY afraid. Kidding! Kind of)

[jkopftwins]

Who wouldn't want to ride an awesome bike like that???

On a totally awesome, tree-lined (watch out for those roots!!) street like yours.

If Amsterdam falls through, you can always try Paris -- citywide system of bike rentals and bike-borrowing racks.

[izzosmom]

OMG, it took over two years for me to teach my daughter (by myself), mostly because I couldn't keep up. Then, one day, everything just came together and she was OFF! I just didn't want her to be the LAST kid in our neighborhood on a bike.

[notjustbarbra]

I didn't get enough bike-riding experience as a kid, and I really wish I had.
It's hard as a teen and/or an adult when you go on vacation with your friends (or husband), since I can't keep up with them if they want to rent bikes, or ride down Haleakala or something like that...

Good for Maddie and Max!

[Geeky Mom]

We are a couple of those parents who didn't keep on our son to ride a bike.. he had a brief moment of success, until my husband told him to watch out for the parked car ahead.. bad idea! Since Nick hit the car (12 years ago), he has not tried to ride again.. bummer!

[HouseofJules]

So many of my childhood memories revolve around neighborhood bike rides with my friends, sitting tall on my banana seat (do they still put those on bikes?) and feeling the breeze flowing through my hair. Those were good times, and YAY for your kids starting off springtime right!
Jules
House of Jules

[Inzaburbs]

My father taught me to ride by taking me out one day, running behind me, and when I was at full speed, letting go. Pretty standard stuff - except he forgot to explain to me about brakes. Halfway down the slope and gathering speed, I freaked out and just tipped myself and bike over sideways into the gravel.

Good work getting the kids moving! I am still working on mine...

[SpartanFan]

I'm so glad there are others out there with the same problems we are having. I feel so less alone! :) My goal this summer is to get the 8 year old to ride a bike. He doesn't want to fail. He doesn't want to get hurt. He doesn't want to put in the time required to actually get good at something. If he doesn't "get it" right away, in his eyes, it's not worth doing. I'm going to attempt to teach the 5 year old as well. Might as well kill 2 birds with one stone (or maim 2 kids in one summer). Maybe the sight of his LITTLE sister riding before him will give him the gumption he needs to just do it. Good to know there's hope. SpartanFan
http://brittons.spaces.live.com/

[wkmtca]

try a bribe. worked for my son. want that star wars model...ride your bike. took him about 5 minutes. that was a couple years ago and he's been riding ever since.

[Alex]

Wow! What a great looking neighborhood :-)

[Jenn O]

I wish you would have asked for my advice--I totally know the secret. You get a small bike and remove the peddles. They practice on a small downhill (like a driveway). Without peddles all they have to worry about is balance. When they've got that down (about 2 hours), go to a bike with peddles and it takes about 20 minutes to get it.

I learned this when the oldest was 5. The rest learned to ride two-wheelers at 4, 3 & 3.

[kim/2kids]

It took my now 11yo years to ride a bike. It wasn't until her younger sister mastered the skill that she felt the motivation. She is now a great rider and we enjoy the simple pleasures of riding bikes to the candy and ice cream store. I find this so much more pleasant than hiking, when hiking I have to bribe them every few steps with M&Ms. Thank goodness for wheels, I can just peddle a bit faster when they start whining.

[Allison aka HaselBride]

Way to go for making your kids learn!!! I wish my mom had.

My mom's jerk ex-fiance tried to teach me at age six and it was a terrible experience. I refused to learn and would ride with my training wheels all around the block like a dork lying that the bike was my little cousin's. HA. My older cousins kept trying to teach me until I was nine or ten, but I sucked, cried a lot and gave up. I wish I never had!

It is so embarrassing as an nearly 24-year-old adult to say, "Yeah, I'm a wussy, I can't ride a bike." On top of the fact that I didn't learn to swim until I was a freshman in high school. So double wuss.

[Cecilia]

Your tree lined street reminds me that the explosion of spring here in Michigan is extraordinary especially after the winter that never wanted to end. At least I thought so until today when my eyes started their relentless itching (along with all that other delightful allergy stuff). How can something look so lovely and be so menacing?

[KT]

Ugh!! If only I could get my daughter to learn. Like yours, she doesn't want to fall. I am yearning for those family bike rides, of which you speak!!!

Your blog is great by the way.

[Aimee Greeblemonkey]

Congrats!

Declan is hardly interested in his bike (WITH TRAINING WHEELS.)

[mombshell]

Wow! I thought bike riding was one of those things everybody just eventually learned how to do. What is the phrase: it's just like riding a bike? I wasn't aware that there were so many people out there that really didn't know how.