To just sell DC's balance bike?

[Meowstro]

My DC is nearly 3, we're getting fed up with DC wanting to take the balance bike out, sitting on it for one minute and finding it hard to do then leaving is trailing it around the whole park. The scooter can be just as bad but nowhere near an issue as the balance bike. I want to bloody give up and just buy a normal bike with stablisers. No amount of positive reinforcement or enthusiasm is helping.

DH thinks I'm giving up too easily and we're not putting enough effort in to help but there's no interest in it apart from if DC sees another child riding their bike. However, I know she can ride the bikes they have at her daycare.

Surely I'm not awful for suggesting that there's nothing wrong with getting a normal bike?!

What balance bike do you have OP? My eldest never got in with the wooden one we were gifted and showed no interest really in bikes until he was nearly 6. At that point, he got in a normal bike and was very soon riding confidently.

DS really wanted to master the balance bike, but we soon realise it was too heavy (he was nearly 4 at the time). We bought a 14inch Isla bike and took the peddles off. He has gotten on so well with and has been riding with the peddles on for some time now.

So consider the weight of the balance bike you have and whether she’s just not interested at the moment.

why do you want to replace the balance bike with the pedal bike? do you want him to learn to cycle?

if he cannot ride a balance bike, he won't be able to ride a pedal bike. Bikes with stabilisers make it much harder to learn to cycle and are a pain to ride.

If you want him to learn to ride a bike he needs to be able to pedal and to balance. If he can do both, put them together on a pedal bike without frigging support wheels. they only hinder learning how to ride a bike.

She’s too young yet for a bike. The coordination won’t be there. Give it 6 month to a year and then have another go with the balance bike

nonsense. My non disabled DD rode a bike without stabilisers at 3. so did I and I know plenty of other kids who did. It's not unusual at all and pretty normal.

I would just put it away for a few months and then get it out again and let her play with it in the garden (if you have one) so that there isn’t the stress of having to carry it around or you getting annoyed if she leaves it. My eldest started using his balance bike properly around his 3rd birthday and my youngest is nearly 2 and a half and he uses his but hasn’t quite got the hang of gliding yet (mostly because he won’t let me put the seat higher!) so give her time, take the pressure off and she might pick it up if her own accord later

There's no one size fits all method for learning anything so if your DD isn't interested right now then maybe have a break or try a different approach. Of course most of us learned to ride using stabilisers, and it is a method that does work, but in my experience, children generally tend to learn to ride more quickly, easily and efficiently using balance bikes than with stabilisers. Some children figure out how to use a balance bike intuitively and need very little guidance, but others require a much more structured approach.
At the club where I coach we use the British Cycling Ready Set Ride programme. Under normal circumstances I would suggest you consider joining a club as sometimes being in a group with other children and having a different adult teaching makes a big difference to little ones who aren't quite getting the hang of things. Unfortunately of course that isn't possible right now, but you could use the same programme yourself. It builds up all the skills gradually and there are various games to play, certificates you can print off at various stages etc. You do have to create an account to get access to the full thing but anyone can do it and its free. The website is readysetride.co.uk/ and there are videos on YouTube too. Good luck!

Balance Bikes are such a rip off. Tried them with mine they hated them. Just waited till the time was right and taught them in the end. We all learned without them.

*and yes the proper bikes had stabilisers at first. Again, most of us did and we all ride bikes now.

"If he cannot ride a balance bike, he won't be able to ride a pedal bike. Bikes with stabilisers make it much harder to learn to cycle and are a pain to ride."

Pre 2000 (if not later) everyone started off on a bike with stabilisers, usually at 3, the stabilisers came off within the year. I did, in the 70's and my main past time was bike riding (tbf, we had little else) until late teens. I think a balance bike, like many baby things, are just something else to sell parents.

All my four learned to cycle between 3 and 5. I know many kids don’t have the coordination for a tricycle at 3. They are all different.

We had a tiny decent little Raleigh and DH just took off the stabilisers and the pedals and they scooted around until they got their balance and when he put the pedals back on they were away.

My lot are mostly grown up now. DS1 cycled to sixth form 5 miles away and saved me a fortune in fares, cycled to uni and saved himself a fortune in fares, had a very lucrative cycling related part time job and now cycles to work in London. DD2 cycles to uni and saves a fortune, DS2 does his paper round by bike.

DS1, who works in economic planning, tells me that more and more cities are planning massive investment in their cycle path infrastructure. I think our kids will be doing a lot of cycling, it’s going to be an essential skill.

Balance bikes should be easy.

Both my children used a balance bike from about the age of 2, but they didn't find it difficult. Is the bike too heavy?

Having said that you aren't awful suggesting getting a normal bike - if you are 3 the point of riding a bike is to have fun. It's just that sometimes brands of bike for children are designed to look like a fashionable kind of bike - mountain bike, balance bike - but not designed very well.

And yes, as TinklyLittleLaugh says, you can buy a normal bike and temporarily take the pedals off.

Mine liked it, but only after she'd seen other kids and wanted to join in. Perhaps your issue is DD isn't seeing as many other kids as usual so isn't motivated? My DD did cycletots and LOVED her bike after that, maybe you have something like that in your area? Obviously not at the moment, but if you don't feel like pushing the issue, you could put the bike away until such things are running again? I'm sure she'd pick it up incredibly quickly at a later date.

What's wrong with a normal bike with stabilisers?
Never got with the balance bike things personally although I know some whose kids love them, but my DD never did.

Balance bikes are a con. The very first bikes didn't have pedals. Kids got through the entire 20th century learning to ride a bike without this dumb idea.

Agree, not an age thing!
My (useless at most co-ordination stuff) dd was zipping around on a pedal bike without stabilizers at 2 years 9 months.
She was not confident at walking much before 2.
Maybe try the balance bike in the garden?
Or in the street?
Somewhere where there is no pressure to be on the thing for a long time/distance?

@LellyMcKelly

She’s too young yet for a bike. The coordination won’t be there. Give it 6 month to a year and then have another go with the balance bike.

My DC could all ride a proper bike at age 3, totally normal isn't it?

Balance bikes weren't a think then, they started with stabilizers then took them off when they were ready.

What's wrong with a normal bike with stabilisers?

Balance bikes teach you to balance, Stabilisers teach you to pedal. It depends which you think is most difficult.

Most children will learn to ride eventually with either method if they think cycling is fun.

@speakout Are you my mum?

I’m 33 and cycle as a hobby. I had a bike as a child that I was desperate to use but my mum did her best to never let me ride because she was petrified. I was desperate to ride so used to jump on friend’s bikes when out of her sight. I was never taught to be safe so took risks and did silly things. As a primary teacher, I run cycling proficiency in my school and teach our kids to ride safely and respect the road.

I mountain bike and commute, I’m on a bike most days, yet my mum still tries to give me a hard time about it. She is not controlling in any other way, but has such a bizarre fear of bikes. She doesn’t know anyone who has suffered a bike accident. She isn’t like this about other dangerous activities. I find it completely baffling.

It's sad that you let your own anxieties deprive your DC of a great source of exercise and enjoyment, @speakout. You are far more likely to die early from being sedentary than from using a bike.

Did you stop them swimming too? Or using a trampoline? Or climbing trees?

My elder DD had her first balance bike at 18months, her second a year later (really long legs!), Then an extension pole to raise the saddle further, then A bike with stabilisers at 3.5 as we couldn't find a bigger balance bike the stabilisers were off just after her 4th birthday.

Younger sister was tiny, with short legs. Couldn't get the hang of balance bike, but was fine with peddles. Stabilisers again off at 4... But I wouldn't say she completely mastered it (as in hills, braking, setting off etc not just the peddling and balancing bit) until lockdown when we could have daily practice. She's 7 now.

Different children. Different techniques. Same overall results.

Goatinthegarden

I doubt that you are my mother.

My children both had bikes, they did several cycling proficiency courses run at after school clubs.
I did not forbid my children to cycle, but I did not actively encourage them either.

I don't have an irrational fear.
When my children were young we lived in a vilage which was bisected by a fast major road.
Options for cycling were country lanes- poor visibility, and often young farmers screaming around corners at top speed- no passing places, or to ride on the major trunk road.
The only other terrain was muddy woodland paths.

During my kids time at primary school two their friends required hospital stays due to cycling accidents, broken bones and bad concussion One of my DS's friends was hit by a truck while on a bike and killed, my DD's classmate lost his father while cycling to work, he was hit by a car.

I saw more injury to cycle accidents than any other activity.

Not something I wanted to encourage.

I lived near and worked at a large University prior to having children.
Many academics cycled to work.
Accidents again were frequent, and deaths often happened too.

I'd rather use some other form of transport.

@DancingFox

What's wrong with a normal bike with stabilisers? Never got with the balance bike things personally although I know some whose kids love them, but my DD never did.

There's nothing "wrong" with stabilisers, but if you break down the skills that are needed to ride a bike well they aren't the most logical way to go about it. Riding a bike with stabilisers on is not really any different to riding a tricycle. You aren't learning balance, or to control the movement of the bike underneath you, which is key to learning bike handling skills like correct cornering technique, how to ride out of the saddle etc. Riding a trike teaches you to turn the pedals but that's about it. Even steering isn't the same as you control a bike with your whole body, not just by turning the handlebars and you can't really do that with a trike. When the stabilisers come off the child needs to learn to balance and then to move around effectively in the "cone of movement" that you have available to you on a bike - skills which a well taught balance biker will already have. Most people find those skills harder and slower to obtain than pedalling so there's a lot of sense in teaching the hard bit first and then adding the easier skill afterwards. You can do it the other way around of course - that's how most of us learned to ride and some people may prefer it - but the process is usually quicker and easier if you tackle the fundamental skill of balance first. I'm sure its not universal but all the cycling coaches I know personally prefer balance bikes over stabilisers. I was pretty sceptical at first as I taught all my children using stabilisers and thought balance bikes were a bit gimmicky but now I've been teaching children to ride this way for a while I wouldn't choose to revert to stabilisers.

@speakout

Waffles80

Not weird at all.

There are many cycling accidents in the village near me. Some have been fatal.

Cars and bikes don't mix.

I would never encourage my children to cycle.

Well, presumably you haven't encouraged your children to swim either?

Kids and water don't mix.

And I guess they never cross a road.

Kids and cars don't mix.

🙄

My 2 year old grandchild can ride her balance bike really well. You just have to keep going with it. Each child is different.

Who said 3 is too young for a normal bike? My ds rode one at 3 and was off stabilisers by just turned 4.

And he has terrible co ordination!