When we first bought our daughter her bike, I was really surprised to see how difficult she found it to ride. It is a big girl's two wheel bike with stabilisers. I knew of course that riding a bike with only two wheels would be difficult.
I didn't learn to ride until I was ten. I remember it very well. The determination to do it, but without injuring myself. I even remember the park we went to and that I was trying to ride clockwise round a large water fountain. My sister and her boyfriend were helping me, holding the seat. They went and sat on a bench while I had a little practice by myself. Really I was just trying to balance myself, move forward a little and then suddenly, I realised I had done it, I was riding my bike. I then wanted to ride my bike everywhere. I was never very confident, but I managed to pass my cycle proficiency test. I struggled with riding with one hand, putting out the other arm to signal. I think maybe if I had learned earlier I might have been more confident. Having said that, I am probably the most uncoordinated person on the planet so it quite possibly wouldn't have made any difference. I am hoping that our daughter has inherited her father's coordination.
I have no idea of what age it is appropriate for kids to try and learn to ride with only two wheels but for the moment we are still mastering four wheels. With her stabilisers on, balance isn't an issue, the big issue is pedaling. When we first bought her her bike she could only pedal forwards about a quarter rotation and would then pedal backwards to get her feet in a comfortable position to pedal a little forwards again. This obviously was getting us nowhere fast.
We didn't want to push it so only did a little bit on the first day. Next day she was a little better but only marginally. The third day I tried taking her to the park as she was now beginning to get the hang of it, but only if going downhill or on the flat. Even the most tiny of inclines would prevent her from pedaling forwards. So we gave up and went home.
With her chicken pox and the bad weather we haven't been out on her bike until yesterday. And wow, what a difference. As if by magic she can do it. I even showed her how to use the brakes.
My biggest concern now is that she doesn't always concentrate on where she is going, often looking at her feet or what's going on around her. She also has a tendency to panic (gets this from me). The stabilisers are great, but in way also make the bike quite unstable as they can catch on uneven surfaces causing the bike to tip, so it is important she watches where she is going. But she has done really well, and I was very proud of her, as was her Daddy who interrupted his work to watch her.
I thoroughly enjoyed going out with her to the park and experiencing her first real bike ride. Taking her to the park will hopefully be a lot easier now. She is such a dawdler, wanting to stop for everything when we are walking. It used to take us ages to walk even a very short distance. Now hopefully she will concentrate on riding her bike and the journey won't be quite as frustrating.
Until she is really confident riding her four wheel bike I won't even think about taking the stabilisers off. I have though warned hubby that once she is more proficient, that I want to be able to ride alongside her, which means he will have to buy me a bike. I just hope that the saying of 'You never forget how to ride a bike' really is true, as I haven't ridden a bike for about fifteen years.