It's been a long, LONG road getting one of our girls to learn to ride a bike. We started first with Carley. We had to do a lot of bribing just to get her on a bike with training wheels. You couldn't even count it riding with how slow she'd go. The following summer I tried to teach both of them. They would attempt it with LOTS of pressure from me but it didn't go well so I gave up.When I taught Kenny, he had no fear and took to it right away so these girls were really stumping me. It didn't help that they have a crazy brother who thinks it's fun to crash and do dumb things on his bike. They both are really afraid of getting hurt. A friend of mind sent me a you tube video of how to get your kids riding comfortably.
So another summer has rolled around and week one was...a success! I first took off the pedals so Lauren could walk herself around without hitting her legs. You do this to help them get their balance. This process was painful for me. Lauren would walk it so slow and was too afraid to bring her legs up to balance. Finally I saw her walking the bike faster and bringing up her legs to coast. I felt she was ready for the pedals...she wasn't sure of the idea. I put them on and helped her get started and practiced braking a few times so she would know what to do once she was on a roll. Let me just tell you, once she got her confidence (it didn't take long at this point), she just took off...literally. Then it wasn't long before she was telling me that she didn't need help getting started and to back off.
It's the end of the first week and I can't keep her off her bike. She LOVES it!!! Carley on the other hand has told me she never wants to get on a bike again. In the video below, I had just told Carley that she was next when I pressed the record button, hence her yelling "no" and stomping off...hilariously I might add. The end of the video is pretty funny too as I thought Lauren was going to run into me. She didn't and kept riding on.
Here are a few other pictures while we were at the park.
5 comments:
I will pay you to come teach Kaitlyn! She is the biggest chicken ever, and refuses to even think about getting on without training wheels. We tried taking her pedals off, and she wouldn't even get on her bike. Oh well. Lauren looked amazing! way to go!!
Oh, good for Lauren!!! I bet Carley will jump on the bandwagon when she sees how much fun Lauren has. Ethan has outgrown every bike we've ever gotten him before he could really make progress on it (we haven't been very consistent in working with him), but I think this one we just got him for his birthday will finally work, so here's hoping! He isn't scared or anything--he just needs to be able to ride and get rid of the training wheels. So good for Lauren!
It took me awhile to get the hang of riding a bike without training wheels. It was scary. I think I finally did it in 2nd grade. I know some 4 year olds who can do it without training wheels. I told that little sunbeam how impressed I was because I think I was 8 or 9 before I could do what he did!!! I thought that was a good idea to take off the pedals. I wouldn't have thought of that!
Yeah! I'm excited to try this with Alyssa...but she is such a drama queen. This summer I'm just hoping to get her swimming....
Go Lauren!
That is awesome! Isn't that the best idea about taking the pedals off? I never would have thought of that. I still remember my sister holding the back of my seat and running along with me while I tried to balance. Awesome job Lauren. I bet Carly will be on her bike soon. No one likes so feel left out! =)
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