Write@Home
Winter 2015

Activity

child on a bicycle at asphalt road in early morning

My son is already five and half years old. I think he is old enough to ride a bike without training wheels this summer. Before removing the training wheels, I had to make sure that he is really ready. The most important thing was that he wanted to do it. As we know, interest is the best teacher. If he loves to do it he will do it well and learn fast.

After taking off two training wheels, my son felt a little nervous because he couldn't keep his balance at first. In order to encourage him to keep training, I would hold the end of the bike and let him know he won't fall down. Then he won't lose his confidence easily. This lasted for three to four days. I know it's really not an easy mission for parents to run behind a bicycle.

On the fourth day, I only helped him to go at the beginning and then tried to let him keep his balance and go straight by himself, without holding or supporting him. We chose an empty playground, for example, the nearby school playground. It's large enough and quite flat. This made it easier for the beginner to train. To my surprise, my son could ride a bike after only four days training. Without two training wheels, he could ride faster. He felt so excited and became proud of himself. It was quite an achievement.

When you begin to teach your child something new, you have to be patient and give them a lot of encouragement.