Teaching a kid to ride without training wheels

[gravitylover]

Woof, what a project. Anybody have any suggestions to get a little girl going? One of my twins got it right off and the other is just having the worst time with this. How'd y'all deal with this?

[snow_slider]

Have her ride on a flat grassy area, so if she falls she won't get hurt? That's a tough one, especially because the other twin picked it up so fast. Bound to garner some envy.

[gravitylover]

flat grassy area = mudpit for a few more weeks

Yeah just little bit of envy, you might even call it jealousness. Possibly even outright frustration and stomping her feet angry. Sometimes that works out well though, it creates a deeper desire to get it.

[Cornholio]

My dad spent hours running behind me on my first huffy, holding the saddle. One day, I looked back and he had stopped about a block back.

I promptly crashed.

[AfroMullet]

Maybe a slightly downhill grassy area. That can help the balance part without them having to pedal. But remember, SLIGHTLY dh.

[ak_powder_monkey]

I learned in a field, just let em go and they will fall and fall and fall and cry then fall again then they will get it and stop falling.

[Cornholio]

I learned in a field, just let em go and they will fall and fall and fall and cry then fall again then they will get it and stop falling.

Does anyone else feel like this post explains a lot?

[Aldo]

I'm right there with you. Grass is the best, but pavement is so much more forgiving on actually manuvering the bike. I've found pedaling really helps her to keep in balance, motion is key. They also needs to really see how minor adjustments in the handlebars back and forth keep them up and out of the weeds. You know, I hate jogging, but I'd run all day behind my girl till she gets it.

That was funny Cornhole, looking back and crashing.

[link1]

This is what you do when your a BMX family and your youngest brother is trying to learn to ride without training wheels. Take said brother who was about 3 1/2 years old, mount him on bike and push him down the grass covered hill with a creek at the bottom. He immediately figured out the balance thing while the crank was revolving. We brought him back up, put him on the driveway and he rode away without skipping a beat. He missed the creek also.

[Arnold Babar]

My experience: Can't rush it. Grass doesn't help, in fact it's harder to pedal on, and little kids have trouble balancing mostly cuz they don't get up enough speed. I tried to push both my daughters to shed the training wheels early, and it just led to tears and frustration (the girls weren't too happy either). She'll get it in her own time.

[char]

My dad spent hours running behind me on my first huffy, holding the saddle. One day, I looked back and he had stopped about a block back.

I promptly crashed.

When my Dad did this to me I ran into an open car door.

[scoober]

If you have a pair of rollerblades, maybe put those on. Then you can become the 'training wheels' as you both coast downhill. You won't be jogging, so it will be easy to hold on and your motion won't mess your daughter up. It will also give you the ability to let go, keep rolling right along with her, and grab on again if need be. You can also modulate her speed with your brakes.

The fact that you are on rollerblades may also be kind of novel to your daughter, and take her mind off the situation at hand a little, so she's not concentrating too hard.

This, of course, could turn into an ugly situation if you can't rollerblade any better than your daughter can ride without training wheels.

[Cornholio]

Maybe the solution is rollerblades with training wheels for dad.

[gravitylover]

Maybe the solution is rollerblades with training wheels for dad.

Thanks for the vote of confidence

At this point we're making some progress. I'll keep you all updated.

[powderhound]

My dad spent hours running behind me on my first huffy, holding the saddle. One day, I looked back and he had stopped about a block back.

I promptly crashed.

that's how I learned too

[snow_slider]

Damn, I think Scoob is onto something. That's great advice and what I'll do when my little girl is old enough.

[Frozone]

Keep the training wheels on but make them very lopsided, then the rider gets used to the bike moving back and forth a bit more (this is best done from day one with training wheels, in other words, months of riding this way gets kids comfortable with balancing). Then take one side off and let them ride a few days with one training wheel. Then, when they're ready, take the other one off.

This has worked with all three of my kids before the age of 4. The lopsided training wheels were by design, the single training wheel was usually because one of then would finally just fall off after so much use, then we knew it was time to dump them for good..

If you're still having trouble, give this a shot, if she's got it already, way to go!

[DJSapp]

If you can, start moving the training wheels upward (directly or rotate) little by little at night when she isn't paying attention. As mentioned above, she'll start to find balance as she has to lean over farther for the wheels to catch her without her getting psyched out. I think my parents did this to me. Worked perfectly. When the time came my only instruction was to pedal fast and go straight. Zoom, a new neighborhood terror was born.

And screw that grass stuff, just slows them down. Start on pavement with knee and elbow pads and a helmet.