Just like adults, children get the same ecstatic and happy feelings when they ride a bike, they also feel the same disappointment and sadness when they set a cycling goal and try their best to work towards it but it doesn’t seem to be working for them.
Teaching children how to ride a bike can be a lot of work. Wondering how to teach your kids how to ride a bike? While some kids don’t need much help in learning the whole bike process, some other kids need extra guidance on how to ride a bike without injuring themselves. It can take as little as 45 minutes or a couple of weeks to teach a child to ride a bike. Learning time also depends on their age, prior coordination development, and previous exposure to riding toys.
The good news is that teaching your kids how to ride a bike can be very easy, and for them, bike riding is a skill that can never be forgotten once learned. The benefits that come with learning how to ride a bike at such a young age are limitless.
Riding a two-wheeler might seem like a big job for them how you first felt when you first started learning how to ride a car, but your first job is to reassure them that it’s not that hard if they get the basics right. While doing this, always prioritize their safety first.
Getting started to teach your kids how to ride a bike and watch them have so much fun? Here are some tips to guide you do this;
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1. Be Patient with Them
Kids are not like adults, and may not be able to follow rules as you lay them down. They may cry when they get disappointed, and some may even intentionally want to frustrate you, but you need to be patient with them if they are ever going to learn.
You need to overlook all they may do and remember that they are kids, and when they finally get the hang of the whole riding stuff you will also be proud you were able to teach them.
2. Make Sure They Are Safe First
Before you start teaching your kid to ride, you need to know their safety is more important and ensure you have everything you need to make the bike riding process safe first. Doing one of these things means you need to get them a helmet.
Helmets are for any child who is learning to ride as they can protect your child’s brain and can save their life. But a helmet that doesn’t fit can be just as dangerous as no helmet at all. So it’s important to measure your kid’s head to buy a perfectly fitted helmet for the.
3. Resist Using Training Wheels
This may feel like a very unsafe thing to do because most parents grew up using training wheels to learn bike riding, but also remember the fear you went through after the training wheels were removed. Training wheels hinder children from learning to balance a bike. Rather than doing this, let the kids learn to ride a balance bike.
4. Help Them Get Familiar With The Controls
Help them understand that the most basic and important aspect of learning to ride a bike is understanding the primary controls of a two-wheeler. They should understand the meaning and work of the pedal, brake levers, clutch lever, gear shift lever, turn indicator switch, kill switch, and starter switch.
5. Take The Pedals Off Of Your Child’s Bike And Use It As A Balance Bike
Taking the pedals off of your child’s bike and using it as a balance bike may not seem like the best idea in the books, but this simple method allows your child to focus more on learning to balance on two wheels, which is the most important skill in learning to ride, he or she can learn to pedal later as long as they gain balance first.
This is the fastest, easiest, and most effective way to teach your child to ride a bike. While selecting one best bicycles for your Kids, consider buying a balance instead.
6. Their Feet should be flat
Always bear in mind that children riding a bike is never the same as adults riding a bike. A child’s feet should always be able to touch the ground while sitting on a saddle. This gives them the allowance of pushing off the ground to gain momentum, and to also stop and start the bike independently and safely.
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7. All Their Bikes Should Have Low Saddle
This method may be harder for your child if only their tip toes can touch the ground while on the bike. Before they ride, their saddle has to be low. If the bike’s saddle isn’t low enough, you can consider removing the rear reflector from the seat post.
8. Make Sure The Learning Bike Is Light
Your kid’s learning ability is also dependent on how heavy or light the bike they are learning with is, and it is faster for them to learn if the bike is light. The heavier the bike pedals are, the more difficult learning balance will be for your child. So, you may want to consider buying a lighter bike for them while bike shopping.
9. Properly Inflate Their Bike Tires
To do this, make sure the bicycle tires are correctly inflated on your child’s bike. Flat tires will make the learning process more difficult. For young riders, hard/overinflated tires are not necessary, as a properly inflated tire should give the pressure of pushing down with your thumb.
10. Teach Them To Start And Stop Their Bike
The whole biking process starts with starting your bike and stopping it, and they need to know how to do this if they are going to have fun while riding their bikes. This can be scary for them at first, but let them follow this process.
To start:
- Sit the child on the bike
- Make sure one foot is flat on the ground and the other is on a pedal
- Ensure that the foot on the pedal is raised to the 1 to 2 o’clock position
- They should press down hard on the front pedal
- And watch as they glide through with so much joy or anxiety on their face
Teaching your kid how to teach a child to ride a bike doesn’t have to be so complicated or stressful for both of you. By simply following the tips laid out in this article, your child will learn to ride a bike – whether in 10 minutes, a week, or a month. You just need to be confident that they can do it and assure them they can do it.
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