evening all
top tips and experiences required here...just in the process of teaching our little boy (nearly 7) to ride his bike without his stabilisers.
i know there are arguments that he shouldn't have had them in the first place, but we got him and our little girl bikes together at the start of spring and its worked out really well...apart from one slight visit to a & e after dd crashed into a fence!
anyway, we've had 2 sessions without stabilisers for the wee man... and i reckon he's just about mastered the balancing part, so good for him. in fact really good for him because he's quite small and not the strongest little lad - and definitely not a sporty type - so i'm really pleased for him, and of course proud of him too.
in truth, i forced the stabiliser-ditching a bit because i'd seen younger kids riding without them, and while he agreed to it, he was a little bit lacking in confidence when we acually got out there to do it (in our local park).
a couple of times i insisted he got on with it when we could have easily given up, and after a few father-son contretemps, he's cracked it and is delighted with himself, and rightly so.
all we've got to do is master the getting going bit on his own, (i've been giving him a push to get him started) and the stopping without jumping off bit too!
anyway, any thoughts on this, anyone..? its a real right of passage type thing this, isn't it? a life skill to notch up...and a metaphor and a half for future things, i suppose.
my top tips?
ride on grass. he was much more confident even though its probably harder going pedallingwise.
set little targets..as soon as i said he needed ride a hundred metres (cumulatively) before we went home, he was eager to keep on keeping on when he was wobbly and had given up and jumped off before. he probably thought "i'll show you, dad!" to himself and this spurred him on. in the end tonight, he was keen to stay and do more even though it was tea time.
all rewarded of course with his pick of expensive cookies at the bakery...those buttery ones with smarties in sure do taste nice with a cup of tea....well he wasn't the only one working hard, was he?!