My son is 8, almost 9. He’s a clever, active boy but he hasn't clicked yet with bike riding. Earlier this year his classmates were recruiting teams for a kids’ triathlon and he mentioned that he’d quite like to try to learn so he can do that sort of thing in future. He almost cracked it when he was about 4 but we weren’t good with practising then he grew out of the bike and we never got a new one. We don’t live on a street where a child can cycle straight out the front door. And, to be honest, he’s not great at taking instruction from us, gets frustrated very quickly.
Anyway I found a local company who offer an intensive course with a guarantee they can pedal independently by the end. It’s an hour a day for 3 days and as many additional free lessons as they need if they don’t quite get there after the three days. Parents are not allowed to stay to watch (great) but you can see their progress at the end of day 3. He said he’d like to do it.
Long story short, took him today and he hated it. Said they weren’t allowed to get off the bikes and he found it really uncomfortable and the pedals bruised his legs. Declared he was NOT going back and got quite tearful. From what I saw, there was no fault of the course organisers, I just don’t think DS was in the right frame of mind today.
I’ve said we can all talk it through when his Dad is home this evening. But what should we do? He’s quite capable of physically resisting and I am not dragging him kicking and screaming. It feels too soon to give up and I really want to encourage perseverance and resilience, but at this age he is quite capable of resenting us for making him try. On the other hand I think he will slightly relish it if he thinks he’s got one over on us by convincing us not to send him back. It’s only 1 hour each day and has only tried for one hour! But he says he hated every minute and it felt like forever.
I do feel that cycling is an essential life skill, different to an optional sport. A bit like swimming. DH and I also enjoy it a lot and would love it if he could cycle with us. But most people do get there eventually, there aren’t many teens who can’t ride a bike, are there? So maybe now is just not the right time. And I don’t want to create negativity around it.
On the other hand, the older he gets without mastering it the more potential for embarrassment. Last year he coped badly when we visited family friends whose same aged kids were already accomplished cyclists and the parents tried to teach him.
We’re going to Centerparcs in a couple of weeks. I wondered if we could agree he doesn't go back to this but do a deal with him that we hire a bike there and teach him ourselves. Last year at CP he refused point blank even to try as it was v soon after the family friends teaching debacle.
Any suggestions?