# Advice for teaching a 6 y/o to ditch the training wheels



## hammy35 (Jan 2, 2009)

My daughter will be 7 in a few months and she is still unable to ride her bicycle without training wheels. Her current bike is a 16" Raleigh steel boat anchor. She has been pedaling for several years, but just has not been able/willing to make the jump. Admittedly, I am not the worlds best teacher.

She enjoys riding and asks to go often. I have never pushed her to get on a bike. She is discovering first hand how much the training wheels are making the ride less than fun. For whatever reason, she just does not have the desire to push through to figure the balance out.

So far I have tried:
-no pedals
-low seat/higher seat
-grass
-concrete
-bribery
-soft approach
-drill sergeant approach

At this point, it has been several months since we have tried. I am open to ideas or suggestions - lighter bike, more consistent attempts, paid lessons, bribery tips, etc...?


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## RLK (Nov 4, 2009)

I was gonna suggest the "no pedals, lowered seat" approach myself....but now I dunno....

Good luck!


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## kmbgolf (Dec 6, 2009)

i just followed them running while holding the sruff of the neck..........seriously the back of there shirt then slowly let go and continue to followher shell feel safe with u by her side.................3 girls for me and it worked


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## slcdawg (Jul 28, 2003)

*Positive peer pressure*

My daughter took the training wheels off during a neighborhood block party. She saw all the other kids riding without training wheels and asked me to take hers off ( we had been talking about it recently). She hasn't looked back since. I think it would have been a few more weeks/months if not for the positive peer pressure.

Prior to this, she had a balance bike (skuut) that she perfected her balance on. I've never tried taking the pedals off a pedal bike (so can't comment on that method) - but read many threads that recommended balance bikes instead. It took a little coaxing to get her to ride it initially (she preferred the pink bike with training wheels), but quickly got good at it. In a couple of weeks she was banking off inclined driveways and even the local skate park. Highly recommended. :thumbsup:


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## LWright (Jan 29, 2006)

Might not be enough to pull the pedals, the cranks could inhibit the free use of legs for the flinstone bike, pull the cranks out too. LBS can pull them in 10 minutes, bag up the parts, then take it all back for reassembly when she is ready.


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## Guest (Oct 25, 2010)

As a parent, I was in the same boat in a manner of speech, here is some good advise to try.....

1) Take the training wheels off and either run or walk behind them holding the back of the seat, shoulder, or as mentioned previously, the neck area while they are pedaling/riding. 

2) As mentioned previously, take them to a park, party, or place with lots of other kids of their age that have bikes and let them see the other kids their age riding without training wheels. Perks them up to have their training wheels removed the majority of the time anyways.

At that age they definitely need to loose their training wheels and start learning the fundamentals of riding without them. Life is so much more grand without them, especially for us folks. Those things are a crutch for them by far. I never had training wheels in my time, just get on the bike and sorted it out per say....:lol::lol::lol: 

My son just turned 12 and is a serious little ripper. He rode his first black diamond trail when he was 6 years of age and its been history since then. Now he does much bigger stuff than me, and I do some pretty big stuff....:lol::lol::lol:


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## texacajun (Jan 20, 2004)

Do you plan to get her a new bike for her 7th b-day?

Six months after the initial attempt, I got mine to let me take the training wheels & pedals off her 12" bike to move up to the 16" bike with the bribe of a new bike. There was some embellishment that they don't let you put training wheels on a big girl bike :skep: , but it got her to quit fighting the idea. In your case it's true. I haven't seen a 20" bike with training wheels and a shiny new bike is a powerful motivator. :thumbsup: 

You're on the right track with the no pedals & lower seat. It'll happen when she's ready. It's a real trip to watch when that light switch flips and they suddenly get it.


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## hammy35 (Jan 2, 2009)

Good advice in here, appreciate alll the comments.

I like the idea of walking behind her holding her shirt or the seat. I had been sort of giving her a guided push to start. This might be our ticket. If this doesn't help, I will pull the crankset and work on balance with her. If I remember right, the arms did get in the way even without pedals.

Peer pressure does work with her. However, other kids only make her more shy - she embarrasses pretty easily. Having friends around makes a big difference, but our neighborhood has very few kids and she doesnt have any friends that live nearby.

I've been dangling the new bike option in front of her for a year now. The deal was that I would build/buy her a new one when she learned to ride with no training wheels. Leaning toward a bmx mini, but we need to go the lbs and check out some fitments.


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## Turbs1 (Jun 17, 2008)

For both my kids I ended up bending the training wheels up so when the kids rode along using their training wheels they were leaning on a angle. They soon learnt to balance the bike, then once they got used to this I whipped the training wheels off. I didn't have to do much chasing round after them. Only when they went to stop and forgot to put their feet down.


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## KyleH (Oct 27, 2010)

Whoah small internet world...Hey Chili-USAFbiker on singletracks.

I was also going to suggest holding the seat and running behind. After awhile, my dad tricked me and told me he was holding and...he wasn't. And also just to keep pedaling...I tended to freeze up.

And I learned in a dirt field across the street from my house. As to how I remember this after 12ish years...I dunno. Good memories of the whole father/son(or daughter) thing.


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## Guest (Oct 27, 2010)

KyleH said:


> Whoah small internet world...Hey Chili-USAFbiker on singletracks.
> 
> I was also going to suggest holding the seat and running behind. After awhile, my dad tricked me and told me he was holding and...he wasn't. And also just to keep pedaling...I tended to freeze up.
> 
> And I learned in a dirt field across the street from my house. As to how I remember this after 12ish years...I dunno. Good memories of the whole father/son(or daughter) thing.


Hey, whatz up? Good to see another singletracker over here. Yeah, you remember that so well because it was a intricate part of your life that was so big at that time for you. Big things that happen in our lives seem to glue themselves to our brain, even if it may be in short remembrances or kinda spotty. Its all the good, the worst things, and other fragments of my journey in life that I remember the most all the way back to when I was three to four years of age.


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## ireland57 (Sep 11, 2009)

Holding the seat while jogging behind worked well for both my kids.

One day I let go and kid rode around for a while then looked back to see where I was.

Nowhere.   Crash. 

If that doesn't work time will.


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## texacajun (Jan 20, 2004)

Turbs1 said:


> For both my kids I ended up bending the training wheels up so when the kids rode along using their training wheels they were leaning on a angle. They soon learnt to balance the bike, then once they got used to this I whipped the training wheels off. I didn't have to do much chasing round after them. *Only when they went to stop and forgot to put their feet down*.


That's a huge part of removing the pedals & training wheels and letting them do the push bike. They learn to put their feet down or fall over before you even put the pedals back on. I put the pedals on, told her to push off with 2 feet real hard like a push bike then she just took off. When she got to where she needed to turn she put her feet down. The only time I ever held her seat or gave her a push was on inclines. Other than that she knew how to start/stop before speed was a part of things. I had my doubts but I think the push bike worked much better than my brother pushing me and laughing when I ate it.


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## NYrr496 (Sep 10, 2008)

When my little guy was four, my wife was adamant that he needed training wheels. I thought no way, he's ready. One day, while she was taking a nap, I removed his crankset and chain and lowered his seat. We went to the empty church parking lot around the block and he just cried because he couldn't understand what I wanted him to do. I finally somehow managed to get my 6'4" frame onto his 16" Schwinn Gremlin, pushed off and coasted with my feet off the ground. He immediately lit up and said I can do that!! Get off!!
We coasted back and forth for about a half hour, went inside, reinstalled the crankset and he was riding on the spot. Now he's six on a 20" GF Precaliber and we have a ball together. 
The best part was when my wife woke up and saw him on two wheels. She hates it when I'm right.


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## hammy35 (Jan 2, 2009)

My found spotted a good deal on a 10 lb balance bike, so we jumped on that. Hopefully this will have inspire some confidence. If not, there's always her little sister...


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## Jwiffle (Jan 26, 2004)

I found with my son, jogging along beside only worked so-so; he kept trying to look back to make sure I was there. So my wife would stand down the hill and encourage him. Focused on mommy, he wouldn't worry about me and he was able to ride.

It was a few week process, though. I took him to a grassy hill and had him coast down the grassy hill. I think I did take off the pedals at first, I'm not sure. Anyway, we spent a couple of days just doing that. And we only worked at it for about a half hour at a time; as soon as he expressed any tiredness or boredom with it, we stopped. After a few days, we added the pedaling in, while I ran along holding the seat - which is when I realized I had to get mommy involved since he wanted to keep checking that I wasn't letting go. (if he turned to check, he almost inevitably immediately fell over). But a couple more days and he had it down the grassy hill. With his little bike he couldn't ride in the grass on the level, so we then progressed over to the track at the school. He rode right along, and insisted on doing 10 laps. He turned 5 halfway through the 2 week process.

I had him riding actual singletrack within a few months. Now he just loves to go mountain biking, and he can tear it up pretty well (he's 7 now).


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## coloradodad (Nov 4, 2010)

*here's how*

Find a grass downhill that levels out onto a soccer field. Role her down and the inertia will keep her up. Once she hits the flat, she'll have to keep pedalling to keep upright. You can run along and catch her at the bottom. We also rode a lot in the weehoo which I think helped ours to get accustomed to the speed without being scared. good luck. Oh they also have those handles that bolt to the rear axle and allow you to run and hold the child upright without hurting your back. Those are helpful too.


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## Alan-S (Nov 4, 2005)

I took the balance bike ---> pedal bike route and skipped the training wheels, but my 2 year old is a bigger bike junky than me, so it was an easy sell.






I remember my father teaching me to ride without training wheels like yesterday. He took me to a hill with a soccer field at the bottom. As we were walking down the hill, he told me to stop so he could tie his shoe. Next thing I knew, I was flying down the hill and onto the soccer field and started pedaling. It worked for my dad that day, but I could not imagine doing that TO my son, my wife would have my head.


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## DWDW (Oct 7, 2005)

After completing 3 kids, I'm a big fan of the grassy hill, on a regular bike with the pedals on.

From my experience, the harder I tried, the worse they did. My littlest learned at 2, and basically taught himself while I was fussing with the other 2. I think I slowed my oldest down by wanting him to learn too much - I created anxiety.

Good luck and enjoy the process - the rewards will be great!


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## CdaleTony (Jun 21, 2005)

I have seen the grassy hill concept backfire. Too steep , you wont catch up or the wipe out may scare(e) them for good while.

Mine, I simply raised the wheels ALL the way up, and bent them out a bit so that the bike had a nice lean. During the course of riding around he naturally tried to keep it righted and before he was 4 (end of his first real bike summer) he was done with them.
CDT


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## dief (Jul 25, 2010)

Try the Strider with a balance buddy attached. I love our Strider! We personally did not use a balance buddy, but we know someone who did. Good luck!


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## timbo_1973 (Sep 29, 2008)

*Balance bike ish*

My 3 and 4 year old have just started riding with no training wheels.
I took the cranks, pedals, chainwheel etc. off and they pushed around on the driveway. They got it within about 3 minutes. I let them do that for a week until they were comfortable, popped all the gear back on and away they went.
Co-incidently the neighbours kids (similar ages) came out while they were on the no cranks etc. version and had a go, they picked it up in the same 3 minute timeframe. This of course meant I had to remove all their pedals, cranks etc.
Being that there is about 18 kids under 7 in our street, the word has got around and it appears by default i've become the 12" and 16" free street bike mechanic. Damn my neighbours owe me beers!


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## LyNx (Oct 26, 2004)

:thumbsup: ++ I don't have any kids, but have loads of nieces and nephews and this is what I did, raised and bent them way out of the way so they were nearly falling over if they tried to use them. Bribing them with a new bike (if it's warranted) isn't a bad plan either. Another thing you could try is telling her that on the trails you cannot ride with training wheels :skep: if she's eager to go on them she might be inspired. FYI, I was taught by my bigger bro, who just ran along next to me, gave me a big push and told me to pedal or fall - I learned 



CdaleTony said:


> I have seen the grassy hill concept backfire. Too steep , you wont catch up or the wipe out may scare(e) them for good while.
> 
> Mine, I simply raised the wheels ALL the way up, and bent them out a bit so that the bike had a nice lean. During the course of riding around he naturally tried to keep it righted and before he was 4 (end of his first real bike summer) he was done with them.
> CDT


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## DBLUNG (Jun 14, 2009)

*Gyro Wheel*

Google Gyrobike. I have two girls 5 & 7, I tried every good suggestion listed above. It just didn't take, then I saw the ad for the gyro wheel on this forum. I found the best price at http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/3-7-years/d783/. The wheel arrived on a Friday, I charged it overnight and had both my girls riding within a half hour of putting it on the bike. I put it on the balance bike first then moved it to the little ones 12" bike ,they both almost immediately pedaled away. I have nothing to do with this company, I'm just a dad that loves to ride and now I can do it with my girls. My 7 year old said it was the best day ever.


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## sv_freya (Apr 18, 2006)

The best place to learn is a large parking lot. Try a local high school, early in the AM.

The lot size means that you don't have to worry about staying on a bike path, and it entirely removes their natural tendency to care about which way they're going. That makes it much easier for them to learn.

You can also find a parking lot with a very slight slope (once they start to get the hang of things.) It helps them start and helps them go fast enough to balance once they're moving.


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## BadHabit (Jan 12, 2004)

sv_freya said:


> ...a very slight slope ...It helps them start and helps them go fast enough to balance once they're moving.


Note above: An incline is necessary for momentum ("very slight"); the lowered saddle to allow confidence-inspiring foot placement; pedals on or off doesn't matter, just don't use them immediately. A guaranteed safe run out is also required-kid should be able to coast to a stop, no worries about braking. Many driveways are fine, but watch the street.

Done right, it's about a 10-minute experience. Enjoy.


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## Biff242 (Jun 17, 2009)

*Benevolent Sabotage*

My son is five now -- he started riding with training wheels when he was three, and I took off the training wheels when he was four.

But it surprised me that it was such a hard thing for him to let go of the training wheels -- he had always been fearless and ambitious with everything else, so I got a little frustrated at first, which probably drove him to be even more determined to hold onto them.

What finally got him there? We rode to the park, and on the way back, one of his training wheels accidentally bent so badly that it was dangling off the side and wouldn't hold him at all. I calmly told him that I would put my hand along his upper arm and keep him from tipping over while he rode home. It was clear that this was not Dad forcing him to do something, so he went along with it.

After seeing how well he did with me running along and just occasionally nudging him from the side, that night I sabotaged his other training wheel and showed him that his only choice was to ride without them.

That got him over the resistance to trying it without the training wheels, and then it just took three sessions of me running behind him, my hands on each side to nudge him back to center when he tipped, before I suddenly heard those magic words, "Daddy, stop holding onto me!"

P.S. I think it's also really important to dress kids up in full helmet, gloves, elbow pads and knee pads. My son feels comfortable to push his limits and develop new skills because he always walks away from a crash without any significant damage.


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## BadHabit (Jan 12, 2004)

Biff242 said:


> P.S. I think it's also really important to dress kids up in full helmet, gloves, elbow pads and knee pads. My son feels comfortable to push his limits and develop new skills because he always walks away from a crash without any significant damage.


I like it.

Yeah; my blankie kept "shrinking" each time my mom washed it, and eventually it just...


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## BikinCO (Jan 14, 2004)

*Handle and Parking Lot*

I taught my son yesturday. I bought a handle at Target similar to http://www.amazon.com/Bike-GEEal96089-Trainer-Handle/dp/B002WBWBQQ. He wore a helmet, gloves, knee and elbow pads. We went to the local school and after 3 laps of the parking lot we me holding on he was able to ride by himself. He was afraid of fallung and cried at first but I told him that we would not go home until he could ride his bike. Stay calm but firm, don't get angry or sound mad when you speak to her and encourage her. He rode around the parking lot for over an hour before he waned to go home. He told me that he had been dreaming about this his entire life. I was so proud of him. He ended up riding over 18 miles yesturday on 5 seperate rides and woke up asking to go out again this morning.

Good luck.


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## derrgti (Sep 4, 2007)

I had the same issue with my son he will be turning 8 in about 2 months, his issue was he had a pretty bad wreck a few years ago and has been afraid of taking of the training wheels since. I came across this wheel called the gyrowheel about two weeks agohttp://www.thegyrobike.com/) and purchased it and installed it after 5 minutes of him riding the bike he was doing laps around the school parking lot.
this past weekend I asked him to ride his 20" that doesn't have the wheel installed and he was riding it but was a little wobbly. 
I just wish I didn't get this wheel right before winter, it is a pricey wheel but I was about to give up and I figure I can resell it for a loss of course but hopefully recover most of the money back since it only has 3 rides on it.



hammy35 said:


> My daughter will be 7 in a few months and she is still unable to ride her bicycle without training wheels. Her current bike is a 16" Raleigh steel boat anchor. She has been pedaling for several years, but just has not been able/willing to make the jump. Admittedly, I am not the worlds best teacher.
> 
> She enjoys riding and asks to go often. I have never pushed her to get on a bike. She is discovering first hand how much the training wheels are making the ride less than fun. For whatever reason, she just does not have the desire to push through to figure the balance out.
> 
> ...


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## Oracle7775 (Oct 31, 2008)

We did the grassy hill with our 5 yo last summer, and it worked wonderfully. We started by finding the most shallow hill we could where he would still get up enough momentum to get going (our back yard), but wouldn't get going so fast that he'd get hurt when he fell (which he did, constantly). He mastered that in about 30 minutes, and so we just kept looking for slightly steeper/longer hills. He was riding competently within a few weeks.

edit: whoops, didn't realize this was a zombie thread.


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## JPinFL (Jun 6, 2010)

With my older daughter, she said that she wanted to learn, but without training wheels. She was around 4. So we bought her a bike w/o training wheels and she was determined to ride. She got it right away.

With our younger daughter, it was a different story. At around 6, she was ready to get the training wheels off. But due to a brain hemorrhage not too long later, she wasn't allowed on a bike for a year or so. At 8, she was finally brave enough to learn all over again. But I did not put training wheels on her new bike. I just told her to ride while I ran behind her. After many attempts and tears of frustration (hers), she was riding.


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## akpirate (Sep 24, 2007)

CdaleTony said:


> Mine, I simply raised the wheels ALL the way up, and bent them out a bit so that the bike had a nice lean. During the course of riding around he naturally tried to keep it righted and before he was 4 (end of his first real bike summer) he was done with them.
> CDT


THIS

Also bribery doesn't hurt if you do it right, but offering praise and complements for good effort works even better I found out.

My girls are past training wheels now, but the new trick is getting them out on longer and longer treks, so pushing them and encouraging them further doesn't end once the training wheels come off.


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## was98strat (Jul 10, 2007)

Turbs1 said:


> For both my kids I ended up bending the training wheels up so when the kids rode along using their training wheels they were leaning on a angle. They soon learnt to balance the bike, then once they got used to this I whipped the training wheels off. I didn't have to do much chasing round after them. Only when they went to stop and forgot to put their feet down.


Actually if yo usetup training wheels properly in the first place there WILL be some wobble. they are not intended to keep the bike upgright and ride as a 4 wheeler, they should be setup so ther bike has a slight wobble all the time, never should both training wheels touch the ground when the bike is on a flat surface. The "wobble" encourages your kid to get the bike upright in the first place.

also to the OP: a 7yo on a 16" bike. that bike has to be too small. My 6 yo (average hieght) is getting too big for his 16" bike. get her a new 20" bike and use it as a reward for making the jump to 2 wheels.

It's hard today I've noticed that sooo many parents coccoon their children so much that I see 8 and 9 yo's that are just learning to ride!! I was off training wheels when I turned 4 all the kids on my street rode and I couldn't keep up with them. I still remember begging to get them removed ( of course I also remember slamming into a 1970's car side mirror on my bike, those suckers had NO give!)


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## JD1 (Feb 1, 2011)

She may be ready both physically and mentally, but not emotionally. Why not just let the whole thing alone? I've taught three to ride at different ages, different genders and different skills. I wasn't the most patient at times but in the end, it's the child's choice. My advise would be to just let her alone and when she wants to, she will, or she won't. She's her own person, after all.


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## hammy35 (Jan 2, 2009)

Success! Finally....

Appreciate all the comments above. The balance bike helped a lot - it let her get confident with keeping the bike upright. We mostly practiced down the walkway from our front porch to the sidewalk. There is a slight slope and obviously she has to turn to onto the sidewalk. Patience helped quite a bit too. I didn't push the issue, just let her come to me to ask to ride. Last Saturday, she asked again. Asked if she wanted to ride without training wheels. She agreed - gave her a push and off she went. Had to agree to a minor bribe (a toy).

She is still working on the stop/start but the hard part is over. Already planning a new build for her .


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## DWDW (Oct 7, 2005)

Great work! Congrats.


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## RedBen (Nov 4, 2010)

I think one other thing to remember is that she is going to wipe out. I remember quite a few wipeouts from when I was a kid from running into benches in parks to running into telephone poles. When she does wipe out, the important thing to do is to pick her up, brush her off, tell her she's okay and encourage her to get back on and try some more, even if it's not right at that moment. My son just went out front on his new bike with training wheels for the first time and hit the slight hill. He froze, took his feet off the pedals and couldn't stop until he hit the curb and went into a bush. He'll be back on his bike as soon as it stops raining (it wasn't raining yesterday).


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## WickedMCMLXXIX (Jan 31, 2011)

I tried reading to see if my method was already listed but too many inputs so I'll go ahead. I can't imagine my way not working. Just takes patience. My son was 6yrs and was scared. I got him some head, hand, elbow, and knee guards. They're scared of getting hurt so just teach her how to fall if she does lose her balance. I picked up his bike and threw it. Then showed him that nothing will happen to his bike. I had him do some "test" falls by impacting the knee, hand, and elbow guards on the concrete on his own. He was confident that if he fell it wouldn't hurt and if the bike crashed it wouldn't break. That all took about 10mins. Then I ran along with him while holding the seat. I got him in the habit of focusing on a stationary object about 100yrd away(tree because he kept looking down). I would balance the bike and loosen my grip. Eventually, I would be able to let go for a few strides but I didn't tell him at first. After a few tries I would let go for several strides and then tell him that he was doing it by himself. It boosted his confidence. Then I lead him into the grass and let him go so he'd crash. He just threw the bike and fell onto the grass. He knew it wouldn't hurt so we kept doing that. Eventually, the lack of space was the limiting factor. We went to the local middle school running track and as long as I gave him the initial push, he went on his way. This was all done in one day. On Day 2, I taught him how to give himself that initial push. Took him about 5 tries. Dedicate a weekend and make an event of it. Its going to happen and there isn't a time when a kid is "supposed" to be able to ride a bike. If it isn't her time, then it isn't her time.


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## Sparty99 (Mar 18, 2008)

There is no need to spend additional money on a balance bike. Remove the pedals. That's what I did with my overly cautious daughter. This let's them figure it out themselves and saves your back. Within a week she was asking to have the pedals back on and away she went.


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## JackStephen (Jun 29, 2010)

One day after a few months riding with training wheels, my older one (she's 6) wanted the wheels to be removed. So I did, and after showing her how to keep balance (always pedaling, trying to keep the bike straight and level) She started to pedal with me runing beside and holding her back. Once I felt she was going on her own, I started taking my hand from her back, always keeping an eye on what she was doing. Saved her from 2 or 3 falls, until she figured everything out. Took about half an hour, then another half an hour to teach her how to take off/stop. The little one (5 yo) learned by watching us and rode of on her own from the first time.


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