Remember riding without stabilizers for the first time? Falling off, grazing your knees, and that wonderful moment when it finally clicked, and you were on two wheels.
Learning to ride a bicycle helps your child grow in confidence and gives them their first feeling of independence. However, whilst some kids take to cycling easily, others need a little more encouragement and practice. Here are a few tips from our experience to help.
WHEN TO START YOUR CHILD ON A BIKE?
From 21⁄2 a child can sit on a 12-inch bike and be gently encouraged to pedal. Push your child along and let them get a feel of the bike, encourage them to pedal forwards and gradually build their leg strength up over a few weeks. Try to take the bike out as much as you can in your day-to-day routine, trips to the local shop or school pick-ups are ideal. If the child is struggling to pedal forwards, try raising the saddle as the pedal arc tends to become easier as it goes up. A child only needs to support the bike with his legs when the stabilizers come off. Once they can pedal themselves show them how the brakes work and practice going down a gentle hill. A young child’s hand can often be too small to operate the brake lever, but the levers should be able to be adjusted to shorten the reach.
WHAT ABOUT SCOOTERS AND BALANCE BIKES?
These are useful tools in developing your child’s balance. The idea behind a balance bike or “learner bike” is they scoot along with their legs acting as stabilizers when necessary. Very often a child will be able to ride a conventional bike
without stabilizers very quickly after using a balance bike for a while. However, it is also important to teach your child pedaling skills and strength, as a balance bike is not the exclusive answer to teaching a child to cycle. The best bet is to use a normal bike and balance bike in conjunction.
A child can often start using a scooter and balance bikes a few months before a conventional bike. Rather than going to the expense of buying a balance and normal bike, some parents simply buy a normal 12/14 inch wheel bike and take the pedals off .These are never as light as the balance bikes but are a good option once the child is a little bigger (at about 3 years).Once the child is scooting well, put the pedals back on and you are away!
WHEN TO TAKE STABILIZERS OFF?
There is a very wide range of ages at which children master basic balancing, with the average being about 5 years, but normal variation running from 4 to 8. It is important not to push them too hard. This can be a real problem for children of active cyclists, excessive pressure can take all the fun out of the experience. Allow your child to learn at his or her natural pace, and it is more likely that cycling will become a fun family activity for all of you.
TRYING WITHOUT STABILIZERS
The traditional way to teach cycling, by running along holding the child up, is still the fastest and best.
The parent should hold the child on their shoulders and run along behind. If possible, try not to hold the handlebars, the child cannot learn the feel of balancing if the parent is taking control of the bike.
It is important the child can comfortably hold the bike up with their feet and operate the brakes effectively, as when they start to wobble, they know they can safely put their feet down and stop. You need to practice doing emergency stops. You train them to know that when they get into trouble it’s “brake on and feet down”.
Little and often is better, practice in 10-minute stints making it fun and encouraging them all the time. Before you know it, you will be doing 10-mile rides and struggling to keep up with them. Good luck!
For more help on teaching and learning to ride please visit our friends at www.spokesci.com