You may have seen in our earlier post that Little J has learnt to ride his bike during lockdown. During the time teaching him I have noted down the most useful things I learnt while teaching him. Here are my nine tips to help teach your child
how to ride a bike.
Start As Early As You Can
The younger you start teaching, the better. We started quite late with little J and he was scared of falling off. If we had have started earlier then the fear of injury isn't there as much and can help progress quicker.
Be Prepared To Be Patient
You need to set time aside every day to practice, practice and practice some more. Praise after every try, even if no progress was made that day as this will make the next days practice easier.
Set Small Goals
Make use of safe spaces to start with. We started in the garden, on artificial grass. Although its harder to pedal on than road, Little J felt safer knowing he would land on the soft floor if he fell.
Start With Balance and Basic Control
We started with stabilisers on to get used to getting on and off the bike, and general control, steering and pedal movement. Even stabilisers can be hard to balance so make sure you explain this and don't expect too much on the first go!
Continue With Balance
Take the stabilisers off as soon as they have mastered the basics. Then focus on helping them get the balance of the bike. No need to use pedals (and maybe take them off - we did this to help Little J) Make sure they can push themselves off and then glide along with feet off the floor as much as possible.
Re - Attach The Pedals
Begin by holding your child, not the handlebars, or the bike. Hold onto then from the side and help them start off. Keep hold of them while they get used to the pedals and combining with balance. This is the part that took the longest for us, maybe as the space we used wasn't big. Keep going forward and back, and start to let go of them for seconds at a time so they start to get used to riding alone.
Move outside
We moved to the road outside next. Here there is much more space, the road is easier to ride on than the grass, and here is where you will make the most progress. Continue to hold on to your child to get them started and then follow the same pattern as before. Stay alongside them, not in front or behind and when you hold on, hold on to the child only.
Let Go
As you repeat this, let go for longer periods of time, encourage turning, be prepared to start running alongside if your child is still scared of falling.
On Their Own
As confidence grows you will be able to stop running alongside and let them go. Well done - they have now learned a skill they will never forget.
I hope this short guide will help you with the challenge fo helping your child learn to ride their bike. Remember to be patient, as not all children will learn at the same pace, and it times you will think they will never get it, but they will and they will be over the moon when they do.
John
