Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be shocked at this?

278 replies

upsideup · 03/05/2018 17:47

DS1 has two friends round for dinner tonight, ones 8 and ones 9 and they have gone outside to play with bikes/scooters etc and both of his friends dont own a bike and have never been taught to ride one before and its not just them they all mentioned several other friends who cant as well.
I thought riding a bike was a still a pretty normal skill that all children had learnt to do by now.

AIBU to be shocked at this? Do most 8/9 year olds not know how to ride a bike?

OP posts:
mylurcheristhebest · 03/05/2018 19:35

My DS only learned when he was 13, he has autism.

My other son has been riding a 2 wheeled bike since he was 4.

Adayindisney67 · 03/05/2018 19:37

Tbh I also thought it was the norm. I don't think you're being mean at all..
My three can all ride a bike. I taught them young. Youngest just turned 6 will be learning without stabilisers this summer hopefully..
Maybe they just wasn't interested. Its nice they have now discovered how though 😁

bluerunningshoes · 03/05/2018 19:40

yanbu
I understand the reasons why it's more difficult for some people to possess bikes and to learn how to ride, but I consider it a very important life skill how are they going to do the paper round?

Gwenhwyfar · 03/05/2018 19:46

"nanny it's illegal for anyone to cycle on the pavement, regardless of age/size. "

No, it's legal up to 10 years old.

Unfortunately, it's tolerated by police where I live for cyclists of all ages. Crap for pedestrians.

Nanny0gg · 03/05/2018 19:51

I would consider learning to ride a bike a life skill for kids along with swimming

Why? Ability to swim can save your life. I have never needed to ride a bike.

neveradullmoment99 · 03/05/2018 19:55

All my children have bikes and know how to ride bikes. They do their cycling proficiency at the age of 10 [Primary 6]. I don't know any children this age that cant ride a bike quite frankly!

arethereanyleftatall · 03/05/2018 19:56

If you don't learn certain skills as a child, it's soooo much harder to learn as an adult.
Off the top of my head this applies to cycling, swimming, ski-ing, probably everything. If children don't learn, that tends to mean doors closed to them as adults.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 03/05/2018 19:57

We are bikey people: all four of mine could cycle by three or four. They cycle to school, play out on their bikes, go off down the local canal paths with their mates, build jumps in the woods. We cycle on holiday, sometimes mountain biking. DH and DS1 do lots of road cycling on racers. The older ones cycle at Uni and DS had a decently paid part time cycling job. DS sometimes cycles to work.

Between the 6 of us we have about 12 bikes in our garage.

I do think it's a useful life skill. It has saved my lot money and time.

DD to Amsterdam with her mates last summer and suggested hiring bikes to explore the city. Two out of four of them couldn't ride.

neveradullmoment99 · 03/05/2018 19:58

Ability to swim can save your life

Can it? In actual fact, sadly children can often have false confidence knowing how to swim. There are many children each year that die in open water related activities because they think they can swim and even although they can do it in a pool, it is quite different to swimming in open water.

TheFirstMrsDV · 03/05/2018 20:02

There is nowhere for my kids to ride their bikes at home.
If they had bikes where the hell would they ride them?
Scooters are far more practical so they have them.

BigSandyBalls2015 · 03/05/2018 20:03

I think it's a good skill to have, although I understand in built up areas and no storage it could be difficult.

DD (17) learnt before she started school but she was very keen. We live in south London so not rural.

Interesting that it's dying out and scooters have taken over.

4yoniD · 03/05/2018 20:04

My 7 year old can't ride a bike. No special needs or specific issues, she just cant crack it. Doesn't help that bikes are a pita here. Don't fit in the car, can't cycle from our house safely, we can walk to a park but it's far enough that it's a serious pain to push bikes all the way, plus no pavement and narrow road with lots of corners and fast cars... give me a scooter any day for practicality

murmuration · 03/05/2018 20:06

I'd actually been thinking of starting a thread asking how you teach a child to ride a bike when there isn't anywhere appropriate around (and your child complains and loses interest after about 10 minutes after you've spent 30 minutes geting somewhere you can practice, making an over an hour round trip for barely any practice and/or a tantrum) - it's been making me feel better to read that it's not as common as all that. (As I was like the OP - I just assumed it was something 'most' people did, although I know not all, since DH doesn't know!)

LagunaBubbles · 03/05/2018 20:07

Where I live loads kids still go out on their bikes, my 10 and 16 year old cycle around town quite a lot, my youngest cycles a lot to school a lot to. Im not paranoid about "stranger danger" either.

AuntLydia · 03/05/2018 20:07

It's a good skill but it's not a life skill I don't think. I've never ridden a bike as an adult despite riding one loads as a kid. I'm sure it could come in handy or be a fun way to keep fit but it's not essential. I'm just surprised to hear about lots of kids not riding bikes because to me it feels synonymous with childhood like sleeping with teddies or going to the park or getting nits!

Ginorchoc · 03/05/2018 20:09

My teen never learnt I bought a bike when she was younger but after an incident in school resulting in two breaks, Hospital stay, surgery and a year recovery we seemed to miss the chance and now she isn’t bothered.

holyshitdude · 03/05/2018 20:09

Ds(9) has dyspraxia and hip dysplasia. He can't ride a bike or a scooter and probably never will. He can't run or jump either.

expatinscotland · 03/05/2018 20:09

'DD to Amsterdam with her mates last summer and suggested hiring bikes to explore the city. Two out of four of them couldn't ride.'

I'd have vetoed that even though I can ride a bike. Sounds like my idea of hell to see a city like Amsterdam.

'Between the 6 of us we have about 12 bikes in our garage.

I do think it's a useful life skill. It has saved my lot money and time. '

Wow, a garage large enough to hold 12 bikes. Money to buy 12 bikes. Money to live in a place where kids can go build jumps in the woods and go on cycling holidays.

Plenty of people don't cycle because they live in a damp shithole the size a postage stamp with no garden or park anywhere near it on busy roads and can't afford one bike, much less 12.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 03/05/2018 20:10

We can't afford bikes for the DC, DD learnt at my aunt's as she had a bike there.

steff13 · 03/05/2018 20:14

Our 19-year-old son and our 7-year-old daughter know how to ride. Our 16-year-old son had a bike with training wheels when he was little, but he refused to try without the training wheels. We tried everything to get him to try, he just never wanted to, and still doesn't know how. If it was something that is an essential (in our opinion) life skill, like swimming, we would have insisted, but cycling is really just a hobby where we live, so we let it go. Maybe he'll want to learn as an adult.

Montsti · 03/05/2018 20:15

I find this unusual in some ways as I don’t know anyone over the age of 6 in my circles who can’t ride a bike BUT I’m not in the UK and live in a better suited climate to outdoor activities...

DS rode a bike for the first time at 3 but dd1 not until she was 5..but she never really tried as she wasn’t interested but once she did, she got it very quickly...which I’m sure that most kids would. It’s also much more difficult to learn the older you get...

Not everyone has access to a bike or anywhere to ride though...

NotTheFordType · 03/05/2018 20:16

If you live in a small town or rurally, then possibly learning to cycle as a child might be useful. If you're in a town with over 25k population or a proper city, then it's just going to be putting yourself at risk to cycle on main roads, no matter your age.

Since the 2012 olympics it seems that cycling is a sport but no longer a mode of transport.

Buster72 · 03/05/2018 20:16

It's not about finding it difficult but that they don't know how and have never been introduced to a simple task that brings pleasure and is healthy.

Wallywobbles · 03/05/2018 20:19

Rural France here but in primary they did bike days. Riding and road safety as well. But now they are in a city secondary I can see that it would be nigh on impossible.

Branleuse · 03/05/2018 20:22

my eldest learned to ride at 11, my middle son doesnt know and has never expressed an interest and is even a bit wobbly with a scooter tbh.
My daughter, the youngest, taught herself when she was about 6.