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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

what age did u take stabilisers off bike?

35 replies

abcdefghijk · 22/03/2011 17:38

ds(5) is confident riding bike now and im thinking about taking the stabilisers off.just worried it will knock his confidence if he not ready?will he pick up how to balance easily enough at this age?or too young?ive really not got a clue

OP posts:

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ChippingInMistressSteamMop · 22/03/2011 17:40

Take them off - the earlier the better while they are less scared about stuff and more confident about life :) They seem to bounce better the younger they are too!

RightUpMyRue · 22/03/2011 17:41

Think DD was about 6. She learned very quickly without them, a matter of a couple weeks and now she tears around on it, standing up, one handed...

Bonkerz · 22/03/2011 17:45

DD was 5 in December and we took the stabilisers off about 3 weeks ago and she is now riding happily without help and her falling off has now dropped to once when she goes out on her bike!
DS on the otherhand was nearly 7 before he rode his bike without stabilisers and DSD was 6 when we took her stabilisers off but she just refused to ride her bike till she was nearly 8 LOL

Original poster

abcdefghijk · 22/03/2011 18:09

i might give it ago this weekend then,can i expect him to pick it up quick?hes a bit of a cry baby when he falls over and 'cant do it' is one of his favourite phrases lol

OP posts:

kbaby · 22/03/2011 22:59

we kept dd's on as she wasnt confident to have them off and then when she was 6 we went on holidays where there was a bike with no stabalisers. We turned round and there she was riding it, no falling off nothing! I was convinced she mustv been having secret lessons :) DH said she was clearly just ready to do it.

DS is 4 now and I plan on just leaving him until he asks to have a go. Hopefully it will be as easily as DD if I just leave him to decide when hes ready.

LawrieMarlow · 22/03/2011 23:03

DS was about 4.5. DD is 5.5 and not ready yet.

Meglet · 22/03/2011 23:04

DS is 4.5 and he doesn't even have a bike yet .

kreecherlivesupstairs · 23/03/2011 07:33

DD was around five I think. She is confident on her bike but really, really oblivious to others around her. She wants to ride it to school but she has no chance despite the abundance of cycle lanes. (Belgium)

malovitt · 23/03/2011 07:40

All mine could ride their bikes without stabilisers at 3 yrs old.

I have a long flat driveway which helped and we had plenty of practice every day after nursery.

All the neighbours send their kids to me to learn now.

flimflammery · 23/03/2011 07:50

Just successfully took them off DS's bike, he's 5. What really helped was getting a good sense of balance using a two-wheeled scooter (we scoot to school). I thought it would take a while but he got it in half an hour, turning corners and everything.

Get elbow and knee pads though, for the early weeks!

exoticfruits · 23/03/2011 07:51

It depeds entirely on the DC. My DC1 could do it at 3 yrs but DC2 was nearly 7yrs.

coogar · 23/03/2011 09:50

4 years for both my sons. Do it on grass to begin with so any fall is cushioned. Good luck !!

Original poster

abcdefghijk · 28/03/2011 21:11

took stabilisers off saturday, he went down with a crash on first attempt and wouldnt try again.refuses to even get on.
Ive heard about gradually raising stabilisers higher n higher has anyone else tried that?
Ive put them back on for now,hopefully he will get his confidence back.

OP posts:

ChippingInMistressSteamMop · 28/03/2011 23:07

Ouch....

You do realise you have to do the hard parenting bit here and run along side the bike holding onto him for a few goes....? Give him a push to start etc...

Original poster

abcdefghijk · 29/03/2011 09:30

yeah thats wat i done,could feel he was balancin on his own so let go,he done it for about 10yds on own with me still runnin beside him.
I thought he done well and praised him etc.hes just point blank refusin to get back on

OP posts:

annoyingdevil · 29/03/2011 10:25

4 for DD. Suspect it may be later for DS who has less co-ordination

kbaby · 29/03/2011 23:06

Abc... that's what happened when I tried to teach dd. She just refused to yet again, out the stabilisers back on for now and just wait until they ask to try again. Hell do it when hes ready. We were told to make one stabilizer higher than the other so that its only the one keeping them upright and also creates a bit of wobble to help them balance

Original poster

abcdefghijk · 30/03/2011 19:12

doesnt that make them rely on on the one n make them lean to that side?my uncle told me to just take the one off which i think is a silly idea lol
Ill ask him in few weeks see how he feels about trying again

OP posts:

pointydog · 30/03/2011 19:20

dd1 was almost 5

dd2 was a few months off 4.

5goingon13 · 30/03/2011 20:52

We have just taken ds (5.2) stabilisers off. After a few crashes into the wall he seems to have got the hang of it. He did the I can't do it, I don't want to anymore. I told him we had to keep going so that we could go fetch the stabiliser. By the time we got back to the stabiliser he was smiling and laughing. The main problem we still have is that he's not sure how to pedal off.
Op, we took 1 stabiliser off for a while so he had to try and learn balancing. DH thinks it helped him.

foxtrotyankee · 01/11/2012 10:53

Can't believe no one seems to be mentioning balance bikes. We got one, a cheap one, not some fancy posh wooden one, for our son when he was 2.5 and he loved it so much,we got him a proper bike with stabilisers last Christmas. Then a few months ago he wanted the stabilisers off, influenced by peppa pig and charlie and lola episodes. He can just about do it, just turned 4 now, but he needs help starting off, and doesn't have the confidence to want to go out on proper flat paths - instead he wants to do it on our muddy, wet lawn, which makes it harder for him.

BardOfBarking · 01/11/2012 11:22

No stabilisers here - balance bike straight to real bike at 3.5 yrs. Older children did have stabilisers ds off at 4 yrs dd almost 6.

Differentangle · 02/11/2012 11:43

Like Bard - no stabilisers moved straight from balance bike to real bike.

Biscuitsneeded · 02/11/2012 18:35

Never had any. Balance bike, then real bike on 4th birthday which he rode immediately. DS2 however is 5 and a half, very unco-ordinated and still struggling with riding a bike. I refuse to get stabilisers now!

InNeedOfAPennyForTheGuysBrandy · 02/11/2012 18:36

4 and 4 here. ds (5) still needs a push to get going though.

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