2nd birthday.... balance bike or scooter?

[partyskirt]

Not sure which to get! Please vote.

Balance bikes are an expensive waste of money. Generations of children learnt to ride without them. I would go for a scooter. They learn balence but they have another toy to play when they get a bike.

Micro scooter. Easy to carry if they get fed up. I have a immaculate balance bike in my shed. DS didnt take to it.

We got dd2 a balance bike and she still plays on it two years later. But we didn't get it specifically to help her learn to ride, we got it as she kept trying to get on dd1s bike and it was only £30.

She got a scooter as well for Christmas (december baby) and she doesn't play on it anywhere near as much as the balance bike.

Mini Micro Scooter with a seat/toddler handle, will last a good 2-3 years and useful in autumn/winter/spring.

Balance bike also good but my DCs have used their scooters more from younger.

We sold our balance bike it was used about 3 times, we even paid for bike lessonsto encourage its use. Scootering on the other hand has been the best and most well used and loved toy ever and they mastered it in less than a week

I'd aim to get both - one for birthday and the other for Christmas. My DS1 got balance bike for 2nd birthday and loved it, best thing we ever bought and now has taught 3 children, all straight on to pedal bikes well before 4 yrs old, and the balance bike is still going strong to be passed down. Scooters are great for round town and both my boys scoot to school, 4 yr old still using the micro scooter and older one on a two wheeler.

Ooh I'm interested in this as my dd is 2 in February we are thinking a micro scooter for Christmas and maybe a balance bike for her birthday. She has a scuttle bug but she won't sit on it she walks around riding it along so who knows how she'll get on with a scooter.

Balance bike! DS1 was absolutely bombing around our park today on his (it was his second birthday present) and I overheard a boy of around 7 or 8 years old say to his friend, 'Look, there's a baby on a bike without stabilisers.' Dead chuffed, I was.

Balance bike. My ds got one for his second birthday and loves it. He's so fast!

Mine have both adored their bslance bike, and virtually ignored their scooters. DS went straight onto a pedal bike at 3.5 in about half an hour from his balance bike.

I think both are fantastic - we didn't have a balance bike for our eldest & it took a long time for him to be able to ride a bike properly however did get one for the other 2 & they were able to ride a bike much quicker & easier than the eldest, at a much younger age. They have also had micro scooters & loved those too & got loads of use out of them. The boys have all loved both - so sorry, not much help overall!

Balance bike and then scooter only once they've got really good on the bike, as it's a bit harder to start with but worth getting the knack. You can go straight to a two wheeled scooter, too, as they will have learnt to balance.

Scooter or a proper bike DS had a scooter before he was 2 and a real bike (£40 quid argos) at 2.4 can go both now. DS got a scooter called my first scooter with wheels that change so you start with 4 and change to 3 then 2 unfortunately he's really tall so will need another by 3.5ish but great buy will do next DC and maybe more.

Balance bike. Scooter sits sadly in a corner ignored.

We got a scooter for the 2nd birthday, and a balance bike for the third.
I really don't think DD would have managed the balance bike earlier - though she whizzes along now, whereas she was quite adept at the micro scooter almost immediately.
Also waiting until 3 for the balance bike meant we could get a bigger one, which should last her longer.

Micro scooter. They are the best thing ever. My 22 month old had hers as a very early birthday present. She had already learned to ride her sisters but the shorter handle we bought for her has been great.
She loves it to bits. It's her favourite thing. She goes everywhere on it. The school run has speeded up quite considerably!

In my opinion it must be the micro scooter. Ordinary scooters don't work for such little children.

We got a balance bike for my daughters 2nd birthday and at first she wasn't overly interested, couldn't get the hang of it, however with encouragement she kept trying and 6 months later she had it perfected and loved it. She had a years use out of it then tried a pedal bike and rode off on it straight away and hasn't looked back since. I would definitely recommend a balance bike and the good thing is they seem to hold there value as we sold ours after she had finished with it for more than half of what we paid!!

Thank you everyone! Maybe I'll try to get both.

A second question: if I get a scooter, should I buy a helmet?

We went from scooter with a seat then took off the seat and then progressed to a pedal bike with stabilisers. This took about 9 months to go from one to the other.

I'm not sure about the purpose of a balance bike because they don't need to learn to balance with their feet on the floor and all children start riding pedal bikes worn stabilisers.

odyssey No - they don't.
My dd1 went from balance bike to pedal bike in about 20 mins age 3.5, with no stabilisers at any point. That's the main advantage of a balance bike.

A bslance bike gave both my dc speed and independence v young (both got the bike for their 2nd birthday). DS went onto a pedal bike in about half an hour at 3.5. No stabilisers. I expect dc to do similar this coming summer when she is a similar age.

odyssey the point of a balance bike is once they get a little bit of speed up they coast with both feet off the floor, so it teaches balance. Then they go straight onto a pedal bike with no stabilisers (in one circuit of the park in my experience) at 3-4 yrs old. Stabilisers teach children not to balance but to lean on the stabilisers, and also you can move extremely slowly on a bike with stabilisers and still stay upright, so giving you much to unlearn before you can master a proper bike.

party I'd say yes to helmet for both biking and scooting.

Bakingtime
You have fallen for some marketing spin.
Generations of children learnt to ride bikes using stabilisers. Both my dcs learnt with stabilisers and didnt have to unlearn anything

I know balance bikes are recommended now but I also feel they are a waste of money simply because dd had a small bike with stabilisers from age 2.5 and she now rides it without stabilisers. She made the transition very quickly - we practiced for half an hour in the park one day about 6 weeks ago and she took to it fine.

To answer your op, we got dd a scooter for her 2nd birthday and she hardly used it. We got her a bigger one for her 4th birthday (a 2 wheeler) and she uses it constantly. She used her bike far more from the word go, but as I said, it was just a small bike with stabilisers.

You also have Xmas too so could potentially buy both if money permits?