How to Ditch the Training Wheels

One of the great accomplishments of early childhood is saying adios to the bicycle training wheels and becoming a full-fledged two-wheeler. Here’s how parents can help their child learn.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Ready

1. First determine if your child is ready to lose the training wheels. She should be riding confidently on varied terrain, such as sloped driveways, uneven sidewalks, narrow pathways or bumpy roads.
2. She should know how to pedal, steer and stop. The next stage is learning to balance on a bike without forgetting those three basics.
3. Your child should be showing sincere interest in riding a bike like Mom, Dad or another two-wheeling friend. She must be interested enough to focus and learn.

Set

4. Raise the training wheels to the highest point to allow your child to become familiar to the wobble of a regular bike (and to the balance it takes to steady that wobble).
5. Pick a day to remove the training wheels and set aside time (at least an hour) to devote to practicing. Don’t be surprised if your child becomes disinterested after 20 minutes. Be willing to adapt.
6. Find a sport court, cul-de-sac or grassy soccer field. If your child is already a strong rider on the road then the grass will not slow him down enough to deter learning.

Go

7. Run alongside him with one hand under the saddle for balance and security. Do not hold on to your child or the handlebars. He needs to feel some of the bike’s wobble to practice his balancing.
8. Watch where you are going. You don’t want to be That Parent--the one who gets tangled up under your child’s bike in front of the neighborhood park.
9. Practice falling on grass. Explain that everyone falls and that it’s all a part of learning. Make your child laugh by demonstrating an exaggerated, slow-motion fall.
10. If the weather allows, dress your child in a long sleeve shirt and jeans so she doesn’t get too scraped up from falls. She’s likely to catch herself with her hands, so gloves are helpful. You can find child-specific cycling gloves at your local shop, or simply cut off the fingertips of an old pair of winter gloves.
11. Patience, patience, patience. Channel your inner child and try to remember how you learned (or would have wanted to learn) when you were young.
12. Setting goals will give her something else to focus on besides the bike. Try saying, “See if you can ride all the way to the stop sign” or “See if you can ride for the count of 20.”
13. Once your child is catching on to two-wheeling, point her down a very gradual decline. This slight angle will allow her to practice balancing without having to think about pedaling.
14. Take things slowly and follow your child’s lead. If he is not learning or is getting frustrated with the process, you can always put the training wheels back on. Ask your child first and leave that decision up to him.
15. Make it fun. You know your child best and know what makes her smile. Try to incorporate games or silliness into the learning process.

Tips & Warnings

• Buy or build a balance bike, which is a bike designed either without pedals or with removable ones. Kids ride them Fred Flintstone-style and learn to balance first, then balance/pedal second. You can also adapt your child's bike by removing the pedals and crank arms, then lowering the saddle.
• When it comes to new adventures with children, I’m a big advocate of quitting while you’re ahead. Leave on a good note and they will want to try again tomorrow.
• Insist that your child wear a helmet every time he is on his bike.
• Avoid high-traffic areas.