Make 9 year old learn to ride a bike?

I think it was seen as an incentive to get you swimming and it did work for most. I think at primary school you needed to be able to swim a width, doggy paddle was acceptable. School holidays the pools were packed. If you were lucky your mum gave you sixpence for a hot chocolate when the swim was over.

But people aren’t saying it is ‘useful’ - they are claiming it’s ‘essential’

My mil can’t swim, lived a perfectly normal life and is 86. Doesn’t mean it’s not a life skill that is useful

That’s seriously crap though. Our school did try to teach us to swim but I never was able to do it (1980s)

And when the school did cycling proficiency there were never many takers even though kids were always out on their bikes

I understand that but not so much when you live in England - you might want to learn but like driving, cycling and swimming it’s not that important

Its an essential skill in my country, literally in the list of milestones for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. But that's cross-country skiing, not downhill, and its essential as everyone has to do it every single year in school.

I was at school in the 60s. I couldn't ride a bike and I definitely wasn't mortified. Where I lived the LA gave kids a free pass to swimming pools if the could swim, different lengths for different ages. Not being able to swim for free was a bit of a stigma

I suppose if you want to hob knob with a certain type of crowd that's going to come with a list of different essential skills.

Apparently they lived nowhere near a skiing area but it was an important life skill to enable them to ‘fit in’

Suppose it depends on where you live with theskkiing

Maybe they lived atop a mountain😂 What next, snowboarding and rollerblading!

Actually I agree that swimming and cycling are on the same level of life skill - in that they are not remotely essential. They are useful perhaps for some people but that’s it.

Always ‘baffling’ when people do things different…

I have got to late middle age without needing to drive or swim or ride a bike, without inconveniencing others. I have also never ridden on the pavement and got in people’s way 🤷‍♀️

Although someone on MN did claim skiing was an essential life skill - I thought that was really crazy 🤣

As he's older it probably won't take him long to learn. Just get a second hand bike. My son was similar, not bothered, but once he learned, he realised he loved riding a bike. It also gave him a massive sense of accomplishment.

Well I expect they've grown up from being the group of 8 to 9 year olds. Dunno how brother would be now as he's dead. But yes he did outgrow it

My brother was the ginger one.And no he wasn't picked on

And why would I be proud or not about something my brother did or did not do 45 years ago? That's a very strange comment

I was a kid in the early 60s and was never mortified. Nobody cared.

Yes definitely. Back in the 60s/70s when all the kids in your class had bikes and you couldn’t ride one, it was mortifying. It doesn’t seem to be quite so much a stigma today but I can confirm it was very embarrassing. I resented my parents not teaching me. I learnt as an adult. Didn’t really do much apart from ride around the local park because I just wanted to prove I was actually capable. I felt really proud of myself when I finallydid it 😊

Like others, some of these comments have come as a real surprise to me. I just assumed that learning to ride a bike was part of growing up. Like learning to tie shoe laces or to tell the time.

As a child I rode a bike with all my friends. We would disappear off for hours and only return for dinner!!

I didn't ride for years after around the age of 15. However, once I had my own children and taught them to ride lots of our days out involved a long bike ride and picnic.

Its actually quite sad that attitudes towards cycling seem to have changed so much.

I find it baffling, I view riding a bike as akin to swimming, an essential life skill that its best to master as early as possible. Both mine had balance bikes and moved to pedal bikes without stabilisers by age 4. The trend is very much for reducing reliance on cars so DH and I will try to cycle with the kids to their sports clubs/friends houses rather than drive.

How nasty. Has your brother improved his personality since reaching adulthood?

Didn’t realise this thread is a bit old but the question still stands.

How do you know the "child will definitely regret not learning to ride"? My DD is in her 30's and has never learned to ride a bike. She has no regrets whatsoever about it. She wasn't, and isn't, interested in learning.

Has not being able to ride a bike ever carried stigma? I can’t say I’ve ever experienced it.

There are far more younger people now who can’t ride a bike, it barely even seems the stigma it was when I was growing up. My son’s ex gf couldn’t ride one and I think I heard my other son’s gf say she couldn’t either.

I didn’t learn until I was an adult and it badly affected by confidence, but that was decades ago when kids didn’t have as many distractions to occupy themselves and it was very stigmatised. I very much think all children should learn to ride a bike, both mine did at age 5.

I know two middle aged women who can’t either. I did try and help one of them by lending mine and going to local park with them but she gave up.

No I expect them not to take the piss out of the one who can't do everything they do .

Did your brother and his mates also pick on the short kid, the one whose a bit over weight, the ginger one. You must be proud