anxious cyclist

[scottywooh]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, I'm a bit new to this.
My 10 yr old daughter is begging me to teach her to ride a bike, she's finally realised that she is the odd one out here! I did try when she was 6, but her constant screaming and hysterical crying meant we abandoned the whole idea. Any tips?

She should be a lot more rational now. I would forgo the stabilisers and just do the running along behind her with your hand under the saddle thing that all parents must do.

A lot of councils do free learn to ride courses. Perhaps see if she can do one of those. Usually most kids find it hard to learn with their parents and having someone else teaching would be better for her.

Would agree with kreecher - you have to go through the hand under saddle thing to give her confidence that she won't fall off. I found teaching my 2 boys - both drama queens with no end of shrieking - they needed to believe that they were totally safe first before they could have me let go, so I gave them control over when I took my hand off and promised to keep my hand on until they said I could let go. It's hard to run in that slightly bent down position and hard to keep patient with the shrieking, but as soon as they relax and feel safe, they can push themselves to that next step.

This link is quite good for advice - he suggests holding the child's shoulders rather than the saddle.

I taught myself to ride at 8 and vividly remember it. We had a wall (side passage) that I would lean against, push off and peddle knowing that I could safely "fall" back onto the wall at any given moment.

Thanks everyone, you've made me feel more confident about this...