Learning to cycle

[Crackery]

Dd is5.5 yrs. still can't cycle despite many many opportunities. She's still very wobbly and is resistant to having a go. I'm worried that it'll be harder for her as she gets bigger... and that there'll be more of a stigma attached to it. We live on a street where the kids all cycle about.

How can I help her? Any top tips?

She's otherwise active- swims, gymnastics etc and has met all developmental milestones etc. Although she was a very late walker now that I think about it...

Anyone?

Has she got a balance bike?
Because that's how mine did it. She had a balance bike used it lots so that she got really really good on it (so she could put her legs off the floor for a bit she'd got so good at balancing) only then did she go on a proper bike no stabilisers. And she could do it straightaway. I have no doubt this was down to the balance bike.
She was just turned 5 when she could ride a bike

Agree with pp - take the pedals off her bike & let her whizz around to get confidence & balance.
I did this with dd1 after advice from the bikeability team at holiday club and it worked brilliantly. She was around 5.5 and it was very quick for her to learn after that.

Dd2 I gave a balance bike to straight away at 2.5 & she was riding a pedal bike by 3.5.

Definitely agree that a balance bike works wonders. You can just take the pedals off her current bike and put the saddle right down. She needs to get to the stage where she can glide along for a good 5 seconds or so with both feet off the floor. And then put the pedals on. My DD did want someone holding her back for the first 10 minutes at that stage but she was much younger and within half an hour she was off. It took her longer to figure out starting off without pushing with her feet to get going first.

It's good for more cautious children because they feel quite safe when it's so easy to put their feet down.

YY to the balance bike but also making sure the bike is the right size. With DS1 w went through a phase of promising a nice new "big boy" bike when he'd learnt to cycle. Eventually we decided to just get the bigger bike & he found it so much easier.

DS2 was incredibly anxious & getting over the anxiety was the biggest hurdle. For him it was lots of practice & encouragement - telling him he didn't really need to do anything & it was just that his legs & brain needed to get used to it seemed to help. Again, though, it was only when I encouraged him to have a practice at pedalling with DH holding him on DS1's bigger bike that he finally cracked it. He'd been using a combination of balance bike & too-small-with-stabilisers bike until that point. I told him I just wanted to see how his legs/brain were doing with it & asked him to just do a circuit of our small park with DH holding him... He got halfway round before he was going fast enough that DH struggled to keep up, then he was away. I think that was shortly before his 6th birthday.

My daughter's 8 and struggles with a bike. She wouldn't entertain a balance bike when younger. Physically she is capable, but she lacks confidence. I took her to a learn to ride session and the instructor said that whatever it is you need to physically/mentally get it, is not normally present in children until they're about 12. Can't recall what he said exactly now. So, we're just trying not to push her with it, as she'll get there in her own good time.

She had a balance bike but rejected it despite much persuasion.

I wonder if @AGnu mighthave hit nail on head. The bike she's currently using is now too small..

To be fair first year my daughter had her balance bike she didn't use it. But after that she decided she did like it and off it went from there...
So might be an idea to keep it still...

See if your council offer any cycle training. They often do courses in school holidays. My DD learnt within half an hour on a course. No pedals were removed but they got them to glide/push bike along with both feet, then one foot on a pedal then both. They made it look so easy!