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Teaching kids to ride a bike (who don't want to learn)
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Stevet1Free Member
After a bit of advice although I’ll probably ignore it anyway!
My eldest has just turned 6 and is not really into bikes or scooters, he has a balance bike but doesn’t use it unless I get it out and suggest he does – he’ll use it for five minutes then drop it again and go looking for bugs etc instead. Up until now we haven’t bought him a proper bike as everytime I mention it he says he doesn’t want to learn.
This has been fine but as most of his classmates can now ride bikes I don’t want him to be the odd one out, or grow up without having learnt to ride a bike. The older he gets the more difficult its going to be I suspect as he won’t want to be the only 10 year old learning to ride a bike in the park!!!So should I let him decide when he wants to give it more of a try, or should I buy a bike (letting him choose it, and choose a helmet etc) and spend a lot more time getting him to ride it now?
almost certainly going with option 2 BTW…
gnusmasFull MemberSimilar scenario here. My 6 year old can (finally) ride a bike but he is adamant i do not take the stabilizers off. When i do he refuses to ride it. I put them back on at the highest setting and he will ride it fine and the stabilizers don’t even touch the floor which he does notice as they don’t make a noise. I have told him that the stabilizers are coming off.
Difference here i suppose is he really wants to ride his bike but i think it’s the worrying the stabilizers aren’t there.
Good luck with your decision, option 2 does sound better to me.
droflufFree MemberHe’ll ride when he’s ready to. My son was the same, refused to have the stabilisers taken off until one day he asked me to remove them.
gypsumfantasticFree MemberHe may or may not want to ride a bike let him decide.
Trying to get a kid to do something they don’t want to is akin to attempting to prit-stick a grizzly bear into a wheelbarrow
Stevet1Free MemberHe may or may not want to ride a bike let him decide.
Trying to get a kid to do something they don’t want to is akin to attempting to prit-stick a grizzly bear into a wheelbarrow
I agree (especially with your second point), and I haven’t been pushing it. However sometimes as a parent there comes a time when you have to add a bit of persuasion? I am not coming at it from the point of view of wanting to take him biking with me – I just want to make sure he learns at the right time and if I leave it up to him that might be too late. I genuinely feel its one of those life skills that are necessary, along with learning to swim.
scotroutesFull MemberSounds like your son has a more adult attitude to cycling than you do.
jamesoFull Memberhe’ll use it for five minutes then drop it again and go looking for bugs etc instead
Go for a runner-bike trip to a place nearby that’s a little too far to walk that has really good bugs, a pond with tadpoles etc? Maybe it’s not the riding he’ll be interested in but where the bike can take you instead.
I genuinely feel its one of those life skills that are necessary, along with learning to swim.
Thumbs up for that.
Stevet1Free MemberSounds like your son has a more adult attitude to cycling than you do.
Errm, care to qualify that?
YakFull MemberHe’ll need a bike that fits, so get that done first.
Then just get a few parents/kids out somewhere fun and all bring bikes. Have a picnic/bbq/general social – let the parents take a back foot. Let the kids play/ride/climb trees etc. At some point they will all be on bikes mucking about. Your son will want to join in, so may want some help from you at that point. Don’t offer any help until then as its got to be instigated by him.
He’s probably not far off as he can use a balance bike and at age 6 he’ll have enough oomph to turn the pedals. If it all fails, its just a day out mucking about, but you have created an environment where mucking around on bikes looks like fun.
RoystonFree MemberI would do what you can by way of persuasion and incentives to get him riding without stabilisers as soon as you can even if he doesn’t ride again for fun for a while, at least he will know how to do it when his mates want to. Having taught an older taller child if you don’t get it done soon it becomes complicated by wheel sizes and frame size and balancing on bigger bikes. I set aside 30 minutes everyday during one school holiday, by the 4th session he was riding independently. My son was almost 9 years old at the time and very timid and risk averse (as a result of his mothers unbearable mollycoddling in my opinion). The techniques I had to resort to might not get in the parenting manual but the self confidence I saw him gain from achieving and mastering the skill of riding and controlling the bike and for him to then have that learning experience as a transferable skill for other activities was worth it.
Good Luck!YakFull MemberJust to add – if he finally wants to, but is struggling with it all – then a little coaching session from a proper coach will make all the difference. Firstly as it’s not you teaching, so the parent-kid thing is swapped for a teacher-kid thing. And secondly, the coach will have many techniques to hand to coax them into riding.
I’m probably nowhere near you, but we have a kids mtb club here for kids aged 6 upwards. Most kids can ride before they start, but some can’t and because they want to ride like their mates, are getting some sessions to get them riding. I’m near Petersfield/ QECP. (I’m not the coach btw – but feel free to contact me if you are nearby.)
davehFree MemberIs he a competitive little sod? My eldest seems to be, she doesn’t really seem interested in making the transition from balance bike (which she loved) to proper bike unless there’s someone else there for her to race. Then she goes bonkers after them even though she can’t really ride because she hasn’t practiced! Doesn’t get it from me…
phil40Free MemberYak, is it okay if I contact you via email? I am Bordon based and my little lad is a mad keen cyclist (he isn’t 6 until September) but he would be over the moon at having a local kids mtb club! Any details I could get would be great.
FunkyDuncFree MemberWhy do kids need to be able to ride a bike???
Let him do what he wants.
ads678Full MemberWhy do kids need to be able to ride a bike???
^This, cycling is not a life saver like swimming, he’ll learn when he wants too. if you push him too hard he might just say no out of spite.
Leave his balance bike in the garden where he can see it and ignore it. He might just pick it up one day and start messing about with it.
tonydFull MemberJust realised my comment might seem flippant, in my defence I was eating lunch.
Mine were a lot younger when they learned to ride so it might not apply, but having a bell to ding gets them interested. Other than that I’d echo all of the above, don’t push him into anything. Leave the bike around and eventually he’ll play with it, be ready to help out with some gentle advice and encouragement.
PJM1974Free MemberLeave it until he wants to.
This, if you force it on your six year old you’ll create a problem for the future. At that age, you’ll be having to enforce so many boundaries that another won’t help.
If he finds cycling as a leisure activity to be enjoyed then so much the better IMHO.
pigeonthingFree Memberif he can ride a balance bike, he’ll make the transition to normal bike without to much hassle…but i agree if he’s not into it don’t force him to do it, whats the point…it’ll end in tears (for you). just offer the opportunity to ride..if he wants to
stumpy01Full MemberMy brother got frustrated with his eldest when he was trying to get him to learn to ride a bike.
I think it was a combination of him not being very patient and stressing his son out while trying to teach him, coupled with the fact that his son can’t be bothered doing something if he doesn’t get instant success with it. He’s got better as he’s got older.So, they had an expensive bike slowly getting to small for him and he had no desire to ride it. Dunno what triggered it (probably other kids playing in the street), but he eventually got more into it and picked up the whole cycling thing really easily.
My brother has just bought him a new bike for his 9th birthday, as apparently he’s always out on it now.kcrFree MemberDon’t worry about it. Make the bike available and just wait for him to get interested.
I’ve worked with kids who were almost into their teens before learning to cycle, and they picked it up no problem when they were motivated.BillOddieFull MemberWent through similar with my youngest (except he was a bit younger), I would just wait until he wants to but get a Paternity test just to be sure. 😉
vermillionFree MemberMy little lad did it in his own time. He started on a balance bike and enjoyed that. To get him on his pedal bike, I removed the pedals so he could still use it as a balance bike to get him started.
I put the pedals back on and he didn’t want to know so I didn’t pressure him, then two days ago, right out of the blue, something just clicked and he started pedalling it, by himself with out any instruction from me. He’s four and a half. I was well chuffed
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10206655641818924Stevet1Free MemberThanks all, good range of advice.
We’ve been to the park for a long lunch and took the balance bike and he was on it all the time so I count that as great progress. I’m going to back off a little bit on getting him riding a ‘proper’ bike until he’s properly confident on the balance bike.
I agree with everyone saying that he needs to want to learn and trying to get him interested when he’s not is like trying to push a piece of string uphill but in the back of my mind I am still concerned along the lines of Royston’s experience i.e. when he’s older it will be a lot more difficult but we’ll see.
He’s only competitive with his little sister, she shows no fear at the moment so we’ll see what happens when she gets a bit bigger.
He does have a bell 🙂
Yak – Thanks for the info, I’m no where near I’m afraid but another thing to think about when he gets more confident.convertFull Member[proud uncle]
My nephew got a balance bike for xmas 2013 aged 2 1/2 and an islabike xmas 2014 aged 3 1/2.
By new year he was happy riding the bike and by this easter, aged 3yr 10months he’s just done a 7 mile ride and likes riding over kerbs and small (read few inches) jumps.
I think he’s going to kick my arse sooner rather than later.
No encouragement needed – he just heads off and does it. It’s a bit scary!
[/proud uncle]
versesFull MemberMy daughter was on the verge of being able to swim for ages, but nothing I did or said would give her the push to take the final steps (strokes?).
One day her mate from school turned up and could swim like a dolphin. Within the next 2 trips to the pool she’d sussed it.
Do you have friends with kids who can ride and who could inadvertently show riding as being fun? Rather than it just being that thing his dad wants him to do…
jambalayaFree MemberI would personally go with option 1 for the time being (ie wait). He must have mates with bikes and you can try and get him to try those out including with the other parents (less pressure as its not dad ?). Hard to remember with my own daughters but we had bikes with stabilizers which they played around on till they where ready to try without.
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