Training wheels - help or hindrance for bike riding?

[bloss]

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at 5.5 years I reckon Bloss he should be able to fly solo. The grass in garden might be his friend for awhile but he will learn quick and with Gods help well he is home and hosed ain´t he!

i think the stabilisers give them confidence and you can put them on wonky so that they don't always touch the ground gradually raise them up.

It's also good if you can go somewhere like a park or play area where they get a good straight run without having to turn.

Also put targets on the ground to reach

Some find it dead easy and others take ages, it's worth trying a session for a while though to get them going

I hope he enjoys it and is whizzing around soon!

If he's asked, just go with it. And if he's not asked for the stabilisers, don't put them on now.

Give ti a go and see how it oges. Expect some shouting and tantrums (when you don't hold on "right", or he falls off as soon as you let go), but you well be surprised by how quickly he "gets" it - albeit not necessarily in a straghit line to begon with.

Ds (nearly 5) was given a bike at Chrsitmas, which he was never particularly interested in, I think becasue it was much harder work than his "Lyke-a-bike", (wooden bike without pedals), which he could fly along on.

Eventually he did give it a go - with stabilisers - and we did a few wee walks aout on it - but still used his "flying bike" (as he calls his wooden one) most of the time.

About 6 weeks afo, he suddenyl asked if we would take his stabilisers off. The following day we did - and we had half an hour (at most) of him wobbling and shouting at us, before he actually got it - albeit for only a few metres. By evening time, he was cycling up and down his grandparents driveway. (My dad helped the porcess by lowering his sadle so that technically it was too low, but while he wobbling and falling over, it helped that he could reach the ground more easily while he was sitting in the saddle).

Give it a go!

my dsis just did an adult learn to cycle course. There were 8 people and all of them were competent at the end of the day.

The secret was to take the pedals off the bike and just concentrate on balancing while pushing along with feet.

I'll def try this when my dds are at the no more stabilisers stage!

That's very probably why ds took took it so quickly, as he was already used to balancing on his Lyke-a-bike, which is propelled along in exactly that way. He could go really fast on it, "running" along and would lift both feet in the air as he freewheeled when he had bult enough speed. the only probelm with it was that it didn't have brakes - so his shoes took a hammering!

Can he sit on the bike with his feet on the ground, Bloss? Because if he can't, it's going to be a lot harder for him to learn to ride it. The bike needs to be that small for kids to get the hang of it (easily, anyway). They don't feel safe otherwise. They really do learn best on a "too small" bike (whichis what the Like A Bike effectively is).

So if it's too big for his feet to be flat on the ground while his bum is on the seat, than I'd either A) get him a smaller bike to learn on, once he has the hang of it he can use his proper size bike, or B) get stabilisers so he can have some fun with the bike he has.

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I have to fully agree with sassy's suggestion: TAKE THE PEDALS OFF for a few hours. Our DS and now DD both learned to ride at 5 1/2 in a day with no adult pushing. They learned to balance with the pedals off and they already knew how to pedal from their smaller bike with the training wheels.

I am smiling thinking of him asking for God's support. Aren't you glad that he prays out loud so that he also has your support? I really hope that he is riding like the wind within days. Keep us informed!

Good luck to your ds Bloss!

I'm sure he'll be zooming around on his bike in no time at all!

I think it depends on the child.

I have twins of 6 and one of them wont ride a bike at all and the other one learnt to ride without stabilisers.

My eldest had stabilisers till she was 6 and then never rode again till she was 8!! But that wasa confidence thing. She was too embarrassed to have stabilisers at age 6-8 but wouldn't try without them so we just left it and finally she learnt!

I do think they are a great idea if the give the confidence to ride a bike but some kids able to ride without ever having them so it just depends on the child.

God I am rambling this morning sorry

Hausfrau - not sure. Stabilisers are supposed to be wobbly anyway, so the wee bit of height differential shouldn't make that much of a difference.

Sounds like your ds is just favouring one of the stabilisers - and becasue he can get away with it, is continuing to do so.

Only thing I can think of is to go cold turkey - take them off. Maybe do what the others have suggested, and lower the seat and take the pedals off, to get him to learn to run and balance the bike.

Alterntiavely, if he is good at pedalling, leave the pedals on (but the saddle still "too" low)try the holding on to saddle to get him started and then letting him go. He'll almost definitely fall (make sure he is wearing strong trousers), but next time he might balance for a couple of seconds longer..... and then longer still. Expect lots of frustrated tears though!

Agree with Cadmum. Take the Pedals off. DS learnt in about half an hour (he is 5.5yrs). Thought DP was talking nonsence when he suggested this method (he had read it in a bike book) but for once he was right.

I think it is essential that the bike is small enough so that they can put their feet on the ground for security.