Parents, How Old Was You Child When They Learned To Ride Their Bike Without Training Wheels?

[jedlicka]

We bought a bike with detachable training wheels last year. Now, my daughter is 6 and she refuses to even try to ride hers without them, even though she says she wants to learn how to. Any advise on how to make her feel more confident? This is the bike, the training wheels can be removed:
Amazon.com User Recommendation
Thanks

[Buenchico]

Welcome to the Answerbank.

The timing of your post (and your link to Amazon's US site) suggests that you're in the USA. This site is UK-based and, while we welcome members from all around the world, you shouldn't be too surprised if you don't get many answers for a few hours, as most of our members are probably asleep right now!

However riding a bike is the same anywhere in the world, so these two links from our country might be of interest to you anyway:

A relevant thread:
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/behaviour_development/615691-when-is-the-average-age-for-riding-a-bike-with

Loads of advice here:
http://www.bikehub.co.uk/featured-articles/teaching-your-child-to-ride-a-bike/

[ummmm]

I can't remember how old I was but would have been a similar age. I wouldn't rush her. Riding a bike without stabilisers isn't really important.

You could start by just taking one off.

[bodeker]

I vividly remember learning to ride a bike when I was about 7, I was in Germany staying at my Grandparents farm and riding up the road doing well but I did not know how to stop and I ended up going smack into a barn door but I soon got the hang of it and spent many a happy hour or hours riding around the local countryside. Happy memories :)

[waterboatman]

Both of mine were 6 when they had the stabilisers taken off. The only had them on for about three weeks.

[ummmm]

I learnt how to ride on my aunts bike. Same as you, I didn't know how to stop and the bike was too big for me and my feet didn't touch the floor. I had to carry on riding round the block so she could stop me herself.

It made riding my own bike seem much easier.

[Gizmonster]

Best advice I was given off a friend (she has 3 kids and tried it VERY successfully on all of them):

When teaching your children how to ride a bike, don't bother with the stabilisers. Instead, remove the pedals from the bike, ensuring that when the child sits on the bike their feet comfortably reach the floor. Now the kids push themselves along, using their feet, giving them the confidence to maintain their balance.
I can't remember how long you keep the pedals off for, but when you replace the pedals, the kids can almost instantly take to riding the bike normally.

[fairycakes69]

I've got 5 kids and they ranged between 4 and 6, it's a bit like potty training wait until they're ready, the eldest was a nightmare, she just didn't have the confidence and took the longest to do it, by the 5th one we just leant to go with the flow.
The grandkids learnt with a balance bike, (no pedals) best invention ever and never needed stabilisers.

[andrew1707]

Try raising the height of the trainer wheels a little bit, so your daughter doesn't actually use them much but they are still there to give her confidence. Perhaps best not to tell her you have done this... she might not agree!!!

A

[RandyMarsh]

me 5 , my child 7 but she did not have that much opportunity to ride a bike.

[Prudie]

me 7 but I was a bit wimpy