Teaching children to ride a bike

Sarah Mansel said:

I am keen on the use of bikes as a means of transport, and
would very much like my children to learn to ride soon. My
younger child has just about got the hang of riding a bike
without stabilisers and now needs to gain confidence - she
is 5. My son is too nervous to even ride a bike with
stabilisers - he is 7. For the past few years we have used
a Burley trailer and have now progressed to a U+2, but he
will soon outgrow that too. We have read about techniques
for teaching your child to ride a bike, but they all
assume that your child will let you run alongside them
holding them up. He is too nervous to go fast enough to
even attempt to balance for a microsecond. Has anyone got
any ideas!

The good old standard. Pedals off, saddle down so he can
sit on the saddle with both feet on the ground then scoot
it along. As he gets more confident his feet will spend
less and less time on the ground until he's rolling along
with his feet up. Then put the pedals back on and let him
coast with his feet on the pedals until he is ready to try
turning them

Tony

"Sarah Mansel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am keen on the use of bikes as a means of transport, and
would very much like my children to learn to ride soon. My
younger child has just about

got

Quoted message said:

the hang of riding a bike without stabilisers and now
needs to gain confidence - she is 5. My son is too nervous
to even ride a bike with stabilisers - he is 7. For the
past few years we have used a Burley trailer and have now

progressed

Quoted message said:

to a U+2, but he will soon outgrow that too. We have read
about techniques for teaching your child to ride a bike,
but they all assume that your child will let you run
alongside them holding

them

Quoted message said:

up. He is too nervous to go fast enough to even attempt to
balance for a microsecond. Has anyone got any ideas!

With all 3 of mine, I just took them to the local park with
stabilisers off, walked along behind them holding the back
of the saddle, then gradually let go as we were moving
forward. They all went off without a second thought. Most
satisfying ;-) Dave.

Sarah Mansel said:

I am keen on the use of bikes as a means of transport, and
would very much like my children to learn to ride soon. My
younger child has just about got the hang of riding a bike
without stabilisers and now needs to gain confidence - she
is 5. My son is too nervous to even ride a bike with
stabilisers - he is 7. For the past few years we have used
a Burley trailer and have now progressed to a U+2, but he
will soon outgrow that too. We have read about techniques
for teaching your child to ride a bike, but they all
assume that your child will let you run alongside them
holding them up. He is too nervous to go fast enough to
even attempt to balance for a microsecond. Has anyone got
any ideas!

Throw away the stabilisers before he gets used to them. They
stop development of the instinct to put a foot down. Teach
him starting and stopping, fully supported, first. This will
involve walking along backwards, holding the handlebars.
Make sure the brakes are good. Then teach him to stop and
put a foot down whenever anything goes wrong. This should
help with confidence to try balancing, and you can support
under the saddle. At some point you will be able to let go
without him noticing.

Colin McMenzie

--
The great advantage of not trusting statistics is that it
leaves you free to believe the damned lies instead!

Colin McKenzie said:

Sarah Mansel said:

I am keen on the use of bikes as a means of transport,
and would very much like my children to learn to ride
soon. My younger child has just about got the hang of
riding a bike without stabilisers and now needs to gain
confidence - she is 5. My son is too nervous to even ride
a bike with stabilisers - he is 7. For the past few years
we have used a Burley trailer and have now progressed to
a U+2, but he will soon outgrow that too. We have read
about techniques for teaching your child to ride a bike,
but they all assume that your child will let you run
alongside them holding them up. He is too nervous to go
fast enough to even attempt to balance for a microsecond.
Has anyone got any ideas!

Throw away the stabilisers before he gets used to them.
They stop development of the instinct to put a foot down.
Teach him starting and stopping, fully supported, first.
This will involve walking along backwards, holding the
handlebars. Make sure the brakes are good. Then teach him
to stop and put a foot down whenever anything goes wrong.
This should help with confidence to try balancing, and you
can support under the saddle. At some point you will be
able to let go without him noticing.

Colin McMenzie

I'd have to second the idea about removing the stabilisers,
and the scooting along with feet is a great way to learn. I
had stablisers as a kid, and they were always disconcerting
because of the lean of the bike if you were on one or the
other, and the motion when you flipped from one to the
other. Most unpleasant, and not all that confidince building
till you learnt that they really WOULD stop you falling over
- does he actually trust the stabilisers?

Velvet

--

Velvet

Sarah Mansel said:

I am keen on the use of bikes as a means of transport, and
would very much like my children to learn to ride soon. My
younger child has just about got the hang of riding a bike
without stabilisers and now needs to gain confidence - she
is 5. My son is too nervous to even ride a bike with
stabilisers - he is 7. For the past few years we have used
a Burley trailer and have now progressed to a U+2, but he
will soon outgrow that too. We have read about techniques
for teaching your child to ride a bike, but they all
assume that your child will let you run alongside them
holding them up. He is too nervous to go fast enough to
even attempt to balance for a microsecond. Has anyone got
any ideas!

The method I have used with all my four has been the same.

First of all, drop thoughts of stabilisers. They can make
the situation difficult and do little for teaching a child
to ride, although they do have some benefit in getting a
child to understand braking.

Before doing anything make sure that the child can reach the
brake levers and knows what they are for. To set a youngster
off and to see them disappearing into the distance can be
somewhat disconcerting - I've been there :-(

Take the pedals off the bike if possible, although its not
essential. Sometimes taking them of will confuse a child who
is already used to pedalling (as with stabilisers) and their
legs will flail about tring to locate them.

Find a gentle grassy slope that doesn't head towards
anything potentially dangerous, like a road, or a prize rose
bed, or stinging nettles.

Put the saddle really low so that the feet are flat on the
ground. Hold the bike up by the back of the saddle and
gently set off, walking behind the bike. Do not walk at the
side as it is only a distraction and the child will look at
you rather than ahead.

Keep talking. Encouragement works wonders as does lashings
of praise. It also gives the child security, knowing you are
there. After a few short supported rides, you will sense
balance coming. You can then let go of the bike. They will
almost certainly wobble and possible have a minor crash but
keep the encouragement up and try again straight away.

It will only take a few goes before the child's face changes
from worry to absolute joy. It is so satisfying.

Yesterday I was out with a family group who had taken their
four year old with them. On a mini childs bike with 10inch
balloon tyres the little mite covered 11 miles, including
two big 'mountains' To see his face when he received his
Bike Week certificate was a joy to behold.

Good luck.

John
--
hampshirecycletraining.org.ukhampshirecycletraining.org.ukOpen ↗

Sarah Mansel said:

I am keen on the use of bikes as a means of transport, and
would very much like my children to learn to ride soon. My
younger child has just about got the hang of riding a bike
without stabilisers and now needs to gain confidence - she
is 5. My son is too nervous to even ride a bike with
stabilisers - he is 7. For the past few years we have used
a Burley trailer and have now progressed to a U+2, but he
will soon outgrow that too. We have read about techniques
for teaching your child to ride a bike, but they all
assume that your child will let you run alongside them
holding them up. He is too nervous to go fast enough to
even attempt to balance for a microsecond. Has anyone got
any ideas!

The method I have used with all my four has been the same.

First of all, drop thoughts of stabilisers. They can make
the situation difficult and do little for teaching a child
to ride, although they do have some benefit in getting a
child to understand braking.

Before doing anything make sure that the child can reach the
brake levers and knows what they are for. To set a youngster
off and to see them disappearing into the distance can be
somewhat disconcerting - I've been there :-(

Take the pedals off the bike if possible, although its not
essential. Sometimes taking them of will confuse a child who
is already used to pedalling (as with stabilisers) and their
legs will flail about tring to locate them.

Find a gentle grassy slope that doesn't head towards
anything potentially dangerous, like a road, or a prize rose
bed, or stinging nettles.

Put the saddle really low so that the feet are flat on the
ground. Hold the bike up by the back of the saddle and
gently set off, walking behind the bike. Do not walk at the
side as it is only a distraction and the child will look at
you rather than ahead.

Keep talking. Encouragement works wonders as does lashings
of praise. It also gives the child security, knowing you are
there. After a few short supported rides, you will sense
balance coming. You can then let go of the bike. They will
almost certainly wobble and possible have a minor crash but
keep the encouragement up and try again straight away.

It will only take a few goes before the child's face changes
from worry to absolute joy. It is so satisfying.

Yesterday I was out with a family group who had taken their
four year old with them. On a mini childs bike with 10inch
balloon tyres the little mite covered 11 miles, including
two big 'mountains' To see his face when he received his
Bike Week certificate was a joy to behold.

Good luck.

John
--
hampshirecycletraining.org.ukhampshirecycletraining.org.ukOpen ↗

Following on from Sarah Mansel's message. . .

Quoted message said:

We have read about techniques for teaching your child to
ride a bike, but they all assume that your child will let
you run alongside them holding them up. He is too nervous
to go fast enough to even attempt to balance for a
microsecond. Has anyone got any ideas!

Fear is ummm 'psychological'. You knew that. It's obviously
important to deal with it as a matter of principle before
7-yo becomes used to ducking out of /everything in life/
that involves a bit of risk and effort.

Naturally you wouldn't do something you're terrified of
unless there was a good reason. That is there has to be some
reward. _You_ can see the value of being able to ride a bike
but 7-yo can only imagine grazes and frustration and
possibly humiliation.

The other replies here along the lines of take off the
pedals and scoot are perfectly valid - They make it easier
by reducing the fear of falling.

BUT even a little bit of fear will outweigh no reward. There
are various ways of getting rewards - The traditional one is
peer pressure which is a _big_ motivator. (Hence the
importance of kids playing on their bikes.[1]) But you can
use all sorts of bribes for really small but significant
efforts. Some overall value that means a lot to 7-yo is
handy. eg When you can ride your bike we'll cycle to see
Thomas the tank engine (or whatever).

Finally. There is a possibility that 7-yo has an additional
problem you don't know about. For example a vision
problem[2]. (Children's visual system is still developing
up to say 9 and things like lack of spatial awareness is
why letting them out on the roads on their own is not a
good idea.)

[1] Plus the kids that know how to do things can be good
teachers as well as motivators for those that don't.

[2] This covers a lot more than short sight. If 7-yo is no
good at catching a ball or has reading problems then
this should be worth checking - pronto.
--
PETER FOX Not the same since the deckchair business folded
[email hidden]
www.eminent.demon.co.uk/wcc.htm Witham Cycling Campaign
www.eminent.demon.co.uk/rides East Anglian Pub cycle rides

Peter Fox said:

[1] Plus the kids that know how to do things can be good
teachers as well as motivators for those that don't.

Exactly so - my 4.5 yo learnt more from his 5 yo friend
about how to ride a bike with no stabilisers, than he did
from me running behind holding on.

FWIW, 5 yo's advice is: scoot along with one foot on a pedal
and one foot on the ground. Learns you how to start off
yourself, as well as improving balance. My 4.5 yo practised
that up and down for about an hour (refusing all offers of
help from me) then started attempts at pedalling with both
feet, then gradually increased the amount of two footed
pedalling time.

A

--

email = audmad aaatttt hhhottt mmmaailll dddoottt ccccoommm

Peter Fox said:

Fear is ummm 'psychological'. You knew that. It's obviously
important to deal with it as a matter of principle before
7-yo becomes used to ducking out of /everything in life/
that involves a bit of risk and effort.

Quoted message said:

Naturally you wouldn't do something you're terrified of
unless there was a good reason. That is there has to be
some reward. _You_ can see the value of being able to ride
a bike but 7-yo can only imagine grazes and frustration and
possibly humiliation.

And spend some time trying to find out what exactly it is he
is frightened of, so you can address that specific detail.
Acknowledge that he is scared, saying "just get over it"
doesn't work for me. When I was learning to roll a kayak I
never had any problem learning the movement but my panic
under water stopped me from progressing. Once I was able to
narrow it down to my head filling up with water and not
being able to look for fear of losing my contacts a simple
diving mask which also covered my nose made all the
difference. And a nice warm swimmingpool with clear water.
And friendly patient people. So if he is afraid of bumping
into things: find a spaceous area to practise on. If it
falling over: make sure he can get his legs on the ground
and practise that first. It may be just a small adjustment
that is needed, or a correction of some irrational idea he
has about something.

Good luck, Roos

Peter Fox said:

Following on from Sarah Mansel's message. . .

Quoted message said:

We have read about techniques for teaching your child to
ride a bike, but they all assume that your child will let
you run alongside them holding them up. He is too nervous
to go fast enough to even attempt to balance for a
microsecond. Has anyone got any ideas!

Quoted message said:

Fear is ummm 'psychological'. You knew that. It's
obviously important to deal with it as a matter of
principle before 7-yo becomes used to ducking out of
/everything in life/ that involves a bit of risk and
effort.

True. But if it's a real problem try starting on a scooter,
that worked for at least one child I know.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!

Just zis Guy said:

True. But if it's a real problem try starting on a
scooter, that worked for at least one child I know.

It helped with me thirty mumble years ago. Also had a trike
at first, so pedalling and braking were familiar before I
tried the bike, I imagine the scooter helped a bit with
balance. Final putting it all together was mum running along
behnd holding the saddle. Memory is somewhat dim but IIRC my
first successful run had me shouting at mum to let go now
for most of the way to the end of the road, turning to her
after I'd stopped to say I was sure I'd have been fine if
she'd just let go, and noticing she was about 50m behind me!

Never used stabilisers, btw. M&D thought them to be a Work
of Stan and preferred us to learn without.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111
ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382
640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net
[email hidden] dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

In article said:

We have read about techniques for teaching your child to
ride a bike, but they all assume that your child will let
you run alongside them holding them up. He is too nervous
to go fast enough to even attempt to balance for a
microsecond. Has anyone got any ideas!

A set of elbow and knee pads (as sold for skating) made my
child much less nervous when he was learning. See also
sheldonbrown.comteachride.htmlOpen ↗

"Sarah Mansel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I am keen on the use of bikes as a means of transport, and
would very much like my children to learn to ride soon. My
younger child has just about got the hang of riding a bike
without stabilisers and now needs to gain confidence - she
is 5. My son is too nervous to even ride a bike with
stabilisers - he is 7.

Can he ride a small-wheeled scooter with both feet on the
scooter, or one in the air? If he can then he is already 75%
there. I taught a friend's son (also 7) to ride in just such
circumstances in March, and within two hours he was riding.
Within a week he was riding a couple of miles. This was a
costly exercise as he is now the proud owner of a new (180
quid) Trek MT60 like my son's (and Guy's as well).

I think the problem is likely to be psychological, fear of
failure, fear of falling, sibling rivalry etc....

This is what I did...

One: remove stabilisers and discard ceremoniously (NEVER
re-attach).

Two: offer excellent bribe for success (my friend's son had
been promised an X-box on the grounds that learning would
take ages and they were desparate, but a decent trip to the
cinema would be my first choice)

Three: Find a long straight FLAT pavement on a side street
without cars (moving and parked) and get him to scoot along
on his bike with one foot on the roadside pedal (at the
bottome of the stroke) and the other on the pavement. This
will get him used to the bike moving underneath him - just
like a scooter. Do this both ways (i.e. using both feet to
scoot) a fair number of times. Some would have you remove
the unused pedal, but I have not found this to be necessary.

Four: Tell him the theory of how to do it... He is 7 so will
understand. Most people don't realise that to balance a bike
when pedaling you steer INTO the fall. So falling left...
turn left, falling right... turn right. Easy but very counter-
intuitive! You don't need to know left from right, just turn
into the fall.

Five: get pedalling. Hold rear of saddle to start and lean
him the way he falls as he pedals. Do this until he is
confident of balancing via turning the bars. You may need to
hold one end of the handlebars and steer for him at first.

Six: Let go and hope

Seven; Take a break for a couple of hours and repeat as
necessary.

I would expect success in a couple of hours. You might
like to get him on the scooter first to hone those
balancing skills.

Notes:

Purchase in order of importance: 1) cycling gloves/mits from
Halford in kids size. 2) Flash matching Met Helmet, nice to
have gear that looks good... He will fall off and it is nice
to protect those palms.

Do NOT run (well try not to!). It is better to learn to
balance at fast walking pace, as the handlebar movements are
more exagerated at slow speeds. As he speeds up he will make
smaller and smaller adjustments for himself.

Hope this advice helps. Let us know how you get on. This
method has proven successfull for boys just like your own
and I now give lessons baed on personal recommendation...

Kind regards,

Daren

PS I never learned to ride a bike without stabilisers, I
could just do it - I got on a ladies step-through framed
bike and pedalled off from the pavement standing up. We
all learn differently I suppose :-)

- remove ourter garment for reply

Guy:

Quoted message said:

True. But if it's a real problem try starting on a
scooter, that worked

for

Quoted message said:

at least one child I know.

My son is a whizz on a scooter, but he absolutely refuses to
go anywhere near a bike that doesn't have stabilisers on it.
It's deeply frustrating for me because I can't say anything
to convince the stubborn little sod that he'd be better off
without stabilisers. There's no reasoning with a 6 year old.
I wish I'd got him started younger, but he's not really
shown much interest in riding a bike before now.

What's worse, he really relies on the stabilisers in a way
that they're not meant to be relied on - he rides along with
the bike leaning quite heavily on one or the other
stabiliser, as if he's riding a trike. This is a particular
problem when it comes to turning corners and has several
times led to him falling off, which just dents his
confidence further.

His reliance on stabilisers means he has also not yet learnt
to 'kick off' against the ground, preferring to mount the
bike with both feet on the pedals before starting.

His other bad habit is jumping off the bike when he wants to
stop, rather than braking and putting his foot down. I keep
telling him how dangerous this is but he is really
struggling to overcome the mental process that makes him
want to jump off.

I've tried the taking the pedals off and scooting thing, but
he was absolutely terrified and for all my encouragement
just ended up breaking down in tears and hysteria. Part of
the problem is not having nearby any decent wide open spaces
with a smooth surface for him to practise on - I'll have to
find an open space and try the scooting thing again. I did
make some progress the other day when he decided he wanted
to ride on the road rather than the pavement, and with the
feeling of extra space around him he was able to get up some
speed, and for a few seconds at least even rode along with
both stabilisers off the ground.

My current thinking is to leave the stabilisers on but
gradually raise them further off the ground so eventually
they are at the point where they serve no purpose beyond
being a kind of comfort blanket. At which point he might
realise that he doesn't need them any more.

I reckon we'll get there in the end but it's going to take
time... and a lot of patience.

d.

davek said:

I've tried the taking the pedals off and scooting thing,
but he was absolutely terrified and for all my
encouragement just ended up breaking down in tears and
hysteria.

How about leaving the pedals /on/ and scooting, as this is
far more like a scooter. With one pedal at 6 o'clock, one
foot stands on that and the other scoots for power. The
saddle is not involved and you just step off to stop.

This should probably be much easier without the
stabilisers, so he may want them taken off sooner if he
takes to the method.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111
ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382
640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net
[email hidden] dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

davek said:

What's worse, he really relies on the stabilisers in a way
that they're not meant to be relied on - he rides along
with the bike leaning quite heavily on one or the other
stabiliser, as if he's riding a trike.

I did this as a child, until the stabilisers got so bent
upwards I was riding on two wheels without even
realising it!

--
jc

Remove the -not from email

davek typed:

Quoted message said:

I reckon we'll get there in the end but it's going to take
time... and a lot of patience.

I'd say that patience is the key. Our first child rode at
three years old, and at 12 (cue smug and proud dad mode) can
do all sorts of tricks and stunts that I can't even begin to
emulate. Our youngest didn't want to ride and couldn't
without stabilisers until he was about 7, and even now
without stabilisers and aged 9 he isn't totallt confident on
a bike .. he loves it, just isn't too good at it .. 😉

Whatever happens, don't force them into some way of learning
that they don't like, they'll rebel and find fault every
time, rather than learning .. 😉

--
Paul ...

(8(|) ... Homer Rocks

Quoted message said:

Whatever happens, don't force them into some way of
learning that they don't like, they'll rebel and find fault
every time, rather than learning .. 😉

You could however try telling him that he is way too young
to ride a bike without stabilisers and explicitly forbid him
to even think about it 😉

Roos

Roos Eisma:

Quoted message said:

You could however try telling him that he is way too young
to ride a bike without stabilisers and explicitly forbid
him to even think about it 😉

I like your thinking. May give that one a try. 😉

d.