…which isn’t that easy to begin with

balance bike vs. training wheels
&
how/when to teach your little one to ride a bike + other important life lessons

When it comes to shopping, I am not a researcher. The concept of spending countless hours in search of the perfect product for the perfect price infuriates me. So, when I have a purchase to make, I defer the decision-making process to someone who seems to care deeply about that type of product and just buy what they tell me to buy. In my opinion, firsthand experience is always the best research.

So, when I wanted to buy my husband a bike with a child’s seat on the back, I went to a bike specialty shop and spoke to the staff, asking them to select the correct bike and seat. While I was there, I thought I’d enquire about toddler bikes since my firstborn was getting to that age. The timing was impeccable because a fellow shopper overheard my inquiry and chimed in. They had purchased a balance bike for one of their children and training wheels for the other as an experiment. They explained that both children took to pedal bikes at a similar stage and the comparison was noticeable. The child who previously rode a balance bike took to the pedal bike within the week. The child on training wheels developed an inhibiting fear and took much longer to learn how to ride the pedal bike. Their mentality was simple: it’s easy to learn how to pedal but it’s hard to learn how to balance.

Using their theory as the foundation, here’s how my little one learnt how to ride a bike:

2-3 years old: balance bike and helmet for birthday

• TIP 1: when purchasing a balance bike, ask for the lightest possible option. You will inevitably carry that bike at some stage so make sure you know it’s not going to kill you to do so.
• TIP 2: on Day One, introduce the rule: always wear a helmet when riding, even at home. If you draw a hard line in the sand on Day One, you will be less likely to have to deal with tantrums in the future.
• TIP 3: I did go through a stage of towing my child along on their balance bike using a dog lead while I jogged, and it was honestly so good for fitness so feel free to try. Oh, and it still helped them practice how to balance so it was a win-win.

Start with the seat low enough that your little one can have their feet flat on the ground and basically walk the balance bike along between their legs. As they gain confidence, they will sit down and eventually coast when they have enough speed, particularly when going downhill. Start with long, flat walks until your little seems like a total pro at riding a balance bike. Then, if you google “pump track”, you will find play areas with simple courses that your little one can visit to extend their skillset to navigate hills and curves. Remember, long or steep hills will result in increased speed and this can’t always be managed by dragging one’s feet along the ground so stay close and provide guidance when trying a new trail – in some cases, walking the bike downhill may be best.

3-5 years old: pedal bike for birthday

• TIP 1: consider the size of your child’s bike. Even though our little one wasn’t ginormous, we chose the 16-inch wheel bike so they could grow into it and not straight out of it as soon as they felt confident to ride it safely. We’re almost a year into this and no regrets – I am so glad we went bigger than 12-inches because although it felt quite big for the first few months, it’s now the perfect size and there’s still room for growth.
• TIP 2: go hard or go home. If you really want to get the job done, make this a family priority and get the bike out every day that you have free – either for 20 mins or a whole hour – any amount of time is worth it because practice makes perfect.
• TIP 3: patience is key. I did this while my husband was at work and found it pretty tiresome at times because my little one got quite frustrated when challenged. If you’re finding this process to be frustrating, I recommend inviting grandparents or friends along for the ride as often as you can so you can use them as a buffer to keep your patience in check when it’s wearing thin.

Stages of learning to ride a bike include:

            Stage 1: stacking (an Australian colloquialism that means “falling down”.)

            Stage 2: pedalling

            Stage 3: starting off

            Stage 4: stopping

            Stage 5: safety

            Stage 6: socialising

STAGE 1: stacking

First of all, let’s get real. Your child will inevitably stack their bike. Rather than be fearful of this, I recommend you embrace it. So, start the journey of learning to ride a pedal bike on the grass and teach your child how to fall safely. Tell them, “We’re going to practice falling off on the grass because it doesn’t hurt here.” Then help them onto their bike and give them a boost and encourage them to pedal. NB: they’ll likely fall off within the first metre. After a few attempts at this, if they don’t instinctively do so, recommend they put a foot onto the ground when they’re losing their balance so as to stop a full fall from occurring. Repeat this process until they tell you that they aren’t worried about falling anymore and are able to control the fall with some semblance of grace. This will give you and them some peace of mind and prepare them for riding on concrete.

STAGE 2: pedalling

Stay on the grass and pick a destination that seems like a realistic goal for your child to ride to (probably 5-10m from where you’re standing). Help your child onto the bike and steady them then give them a boost so they can pedal to the set destination and fall off upon arrival – at this stage, they may also intuitively learn to stop by putting their feet down and to climb off safely. Feel free to prompt this if they need some guidance. The goal here is for them to pedal at least 4-5 rotations with confidence before stopping and dismounting. This would be a good stage to try some concrete riding but not too far because you haven’t taught starting off or stopping yet. Consider having your child ride between two adults who help them on and off the bike between laps. They’ll find they can gain momentum more easily on concrete which helps build confidence and enthusiasm for the challenging next stage.

STAGE 3: starting off

In my experience, this is the most difficult stage which can result in a few falls. Return to the grass and have your child stand with their bike between their legs, their bottom on the seat and their hands on the handlebars. It is likely that the bike will be tilted to one side because, if you bought a 16-inch wheeler as recommended, the bike will be too tall for them sit on the seat while their feet rest flat on the ground. Teach them to rest one foot on a pedal and one foot on the ground. NB: their experience on the balance bike and whilst pedalling will have taught them that the faster they go, the easier this is. Their job is to practice boosting their bike forward with the foot that’s on the ground (two or so steps) before quickly placing that foot on the remaining pedal so that their bike is upright, using both feet to pedal forward. If they have trouble gaining momentum on the grass, try this on the concrete. Remember, practice makes perfect.

STAGE 4: stopping

The balance bike doesn’t have brakes so your child’s experience with braking will be to drag their feet along the ground. This is very effective when the bike is going a reasonable speed, but a pedal bike was literally invented to facilitate increased speed so ensure this stage is given adequate attention before riding your bike alongside your child. Twice, I watched mine nearly roll to their death when we were riding together because I thought they understood the use of brakes after I had flippantly explained their location on the bike. Obvs not sufficient.

Pedal bikes have two types of breaks – hand breaks and foot breaks. I find the backwards pedal (foot break) to be the least intimidating option and the fact that it controls the back wheel rather than the front is worth noting. If your child slams the hand break on without pedalling backwards simultaneously, they may very well flip themselves over their handlebars.

Take the bike onto the concrete and explain the backwards pedal to your child then get them to pedal forward and test it out. Repeat this a fair few times on the flat before taking them to a hill. Always remind them about the brakes as hills approach so that muscle memory doesn’t take over and have them drag holes into their shoes by scraping their feet on the ground. Once you’ve noticed they are backwards pedaling by default, you’re safe to ride alongside them.

STAGE 5: safety

There are numerous safety issues with bike riding. Roads, water bodies, birds and strangers are my biggest concerns.

ROADS & WATER BODIES: I always walk a trail first before bringing a bike so I can identify safety issues. I don’t like paths that don’t have a stretch of grass between the path and the road or the path and a water body because I don’t want my little one to accidentally steer themselves into traffic or water when attempting to follow the path or when going down a hill.

BIRDS: this is a seasonal issue and a chance to teach your child about what to do with certain fears. It is true that some birds target cyclists which can be scary. On our favourite walk, there is a season of the year when we are targeted by birds. Instead of totally boycotting the walk, we adjust and continue because I believe this is an opportunity to teach my little one that the birds are protecting their babies (as they should) and are swooping us because they are caring mummies just like I am. During bird season, we dismount in the problem areas and group together, walking our bikes through the zones that are known for swooping. If you’re scared too, take a cloth/towel with you and swirl it above your head like a helicopter while you walk. This ensures the birds do not approach and reassures the little ones that we can co-exist with these birds which right-sizes this fear and provides them with the understanding that some fears can be addressed practically, and a solution found. NB: some fears; not all. But that’s for another blog post.

STRANGERS: I am often walking a pram whilst my little ones ride which means they are much faster than I am. The issue with this is that they may be alone when they encounter a stranger. My little ones are typically shy around strangers, and I have mentioned to them that the reason they feel this way is because their bodies recognise that there is potential danger in those encounters which is a good and healthy reminder to keep their wits about them and behave with caution – we like fear because it reminds us to pay close attention so we can act if danger arises. I recommend having this type of conversation with your little ones so that they learn to understand their gut instincts and have a reason to keep you in their eye-line. I have taught mine not to go too far ahead of me by identifying landmarks within my eye-line that they are given permission to ride to independently. I encourage circling back as well as waiting on exercise equipment or benches that I can see. This is made easy because we often repeat the same walks and have certain points which they ride to and wait for me. I have also instructed them to stop earlier than planned or circle back if they see someone up ahead that makes them feel nervous but to never zoom ahead, regardless of how confident they feel.

STAGE 6: socialising

When out and about, your child will inevitably encounter strangers and obstacles. If your bike didn’t come with a bell, consider getting one and teaching your child to use it when approaching pedestrians – they’ll need to know how soon to use it, how many times to ring it and what to do if the pedestrian doesn’t hear as some use headphones. Etc.

Consider teaching your child to slow down when they see the path is busy up ahead and to decide whether they can stay on the path and navigate around the pedestrians, or if they should ride off onto the grass. Etc.

I have taught my little one to ring the bell upon approach, even if there’s plenty of room to go around the pedestrians on the path because it’s a polite way to ensure they don’t give the other path-users a fright as they breeze past.

My little ones tend to be shy around strangers (as I’m sure many children are) so I have also used this stage to teach my child about polite greetings to strangers. NB: don’t forget to consider the safety concerns mentioned above. Like learning to ride a bike, I have been teaching my children that confidence is practiced and developed like any skill and that riding past a stranger is the perfect context to practice expressing polite and friendly greetings without needing to get into a whole conversation. This is important to me because I believe that finding your voice to say hello is an important step towards finding your voice to tell someone to stop or ask for help. Before starting out for a walk, we talk about options such as, “Good morning!” and how we can call that out as we zoom past a stranger. As we’ve practiced this more, we’ve introduced polite smiles and eye contact when appropriate. Some people reply and others don’t. We don’t let that impact our use of a friendly greeting as we zoom by after ringing our bell as a warning. My little one thinks it’s great fun and we get many compliments about how warm and friendly our approach is.

Whilst imperfect, that concludes my advice on how to teach a little one how to ride a bike, along with some tips on how to use this process as a space to teach some of the more important lessons in life such as managing our fears (falling off safely), understanding the behaviours of others (swooping birds are protecting their young), the power of gut instincts (physiological indications that caution is needed) and building confidence (finding our voice to say hello is a stepping stone towards finding our voice to say stop).

Remember that stories of success and failure are incredibly helpful tools for learning so please share your experience in the comments so I can learn from you and together we can find The Easy Way.

J