Easily one of the greatest joys of being a parent is teaching your kids new skills and lessons. By doing this, you can watch them grow and evolve from children into young men and women. All they need from you is a guiding hand. It’s quite beautiful how it happens in stages. First, you get the words, then walking and so on. But one lesson that stands out more than most is teaching your child to ride a bike. Perhaps it’s because it’s an achievement for you just as much as it is for the child. It’s almost breathtaking to watch them travelling up the learning curve. It often occurs quite quickly. Learning to ride can be as quick as half an hour for some children. But it can also be quite tricky for others. So, here are some tips on teaching your own child to ride.
Don’t Bother With Stabilizers
There is really no need for stabilizers. If your child doesn’t take to riding straight away fitting stabilizers isn’t a good idea. It’s actually pushing them one step back. Instead, you should focus on one problem at a time. Children who have difficulty learning to ride often struggle to put all the jobs they need to do together. For instance, the biggest and perhaps most difficult part of riding is keeping balance. That’s why you might find a balance bike very helpful. if you use a balance bike you can teach them to ride in stages. Once they’ve got the balance they’ll be no need for stabilizers. You might want to have a look at a balance bike review site to find the best one.
Let Them Keep Control
As you’re teaching them to ride it’s important that the child feels as though they are in control. If they don’t, they’re just going to rely on you, and you’ll struggle to get past the “holding on” stage. Once they see they are in control they will feel more encouraged to try it by themselves. That means you should avoid holding the handle bars. Instead, hold the back of the bike, but don’t let them feel your grip. This will make it easier to transition into them riding without you.
Teach Them How To Break
Don’t forget before you let them ride they need to be accustomed with breaking. This is going to stop them falling off later on. As long as they remember how to break, they shouldn’t fall off at all. Falling off a bike for a tot can be the equivalent of a car crash for an adult. Basically, they won’t want to get back on the horse.
If They Fall Off
If your kid falls off the bike while learning to ride, check for any injuries. But if they’re fine you need to encourage them to start again. It’s important you do this otherwise they might be put off learning all together. Believe it or not, there are adults out there who don’t know how to ride a bike.
After that it’s just a case of having patience. Don’t worry, your kid will be riding solo in no time.
