Well, looks like I haven't been on in a while. Let's see what's happened since my last manicure...
I taught The Girl to ride a two-wheeler. Yes, you heard me!! My baby is on a real bike!!
Two or three years ago, I bought her a bike with training wheels and taught her to steer. I pushed her up and down the street (every day for three weeks) until she figured out that she was responsible for keeping it between the lines.
Last year, I bought her a larger bike, retrofitted training wheels, and made her push the pedals herself. But the bike kept dumping a training wheel off the sidewalk and chucking her off.
This year, I bought an even larger bike and followed the advice from Bike New York on how to get a kid off training wheels. Their method is to take off the pedals and training wheels, put the seat all the way down, and let the kids scoot around until they figure out how to balance. Why take off the pedals? Two reasons: so the poor kid doesn't scrape up their ankles on the pedals and the ground is easier to reach when they stop. Voila, no more maiming injuries or crashes; hence, less fear of falling.
She never did push herself with her own feet, but I pushed her until she allowed herself to glide. Then, I put the pedals back on, and now, if I get her started, she can pedal and balance for the width of four or five houses. Somehow, between her OT, Braingym, and a little more age, she has figured it out! It's quite a sight to see.
And by "quite a sight", I do mean me -- cheering and yelling, "Pedal! Pedal! Right! Left! Right! Look up! Eyes up!! Don't look at the fire hydrant or you'll crash into it! You go girl!" Yup, I'm quite a sight.
But so proud!
2 comments:
AHHH!! Congratulations to you and The Girl!
WHoo-hoo! That's a MAJOR accomplishment! Brava!
I never heard of that approach, but it makes sense, really. We were of the "downhill on the grassy lawn with mom running alongside of the bike" school.
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