How To Teach Your Child To Ride A Bike

Stabilisers at the ready…

Learning to ride a bike is one of your child's first steps towards being independent. Being able to ride a bike means that they can travel on their own, they can go somewhere without your assistance and are of course, more likely to get into sticky situations they will struggle to deal with. This is great though because it means that they will become more mature and will slowly need less attention and assistance from you. <br/><br/> But before this can happen they need to know how to ride a bike. Do you remember when you learned to ride a bike? Possibly not as most people do it when they are very young, which is perhaps why you are here looking for some advice. <br/><br/> Here is a step by step guide to help you get your kid off and cycling… <br/><br/> Correct Size of Bike <br/><br/> First thing you need to do is to make sure that they have a bike that is the right size. They need it to be high enough that their feet don't quite touch the ground. This allows them to cycle comfortably without tripping. <br/><br/> Safety <br/><br/> Next you need to get them a good helmet and perhaps some elbow and knee pads to start off with. They will fall off quite a lot to begin with so make sure that they wear them until they are proficient enough not to fall. <br/><br/> Stabilisers <br/><br/> It is up to you if you start with stabilisers or not but I recommend them. They allow your child to get used to the pedalling motion and to the feeling of speed as they cycle along. Don't keep them on too long though as they need to learn how to balance quickly as this is the fundamentally tricky part of cycling. <br/><br/> Stopping <br/><br/> With the stabilisers still in place, practice starting and stopping at increasing speed. Make sure they stay sitting down and that they use both breaks and never just the front one unless they want to go over the handle bars. <br/><br/> Stabilisers Off <br/><br/> When they can do all that, take the stabilisers off and start them off on grass. They will fall off but you need to be persistent and get them to focus on balance and keeping on pedalling. Once they can do that get them to start going round in a figure of 8 to practice cornering, and then again with braking. <br/><br/> Hit the Road <br/><br/> Finally when they are ready to go on tarmac, go with them every time they go out until you are confident enough to go their own. <br/><br/> They can now cycle. Well Done! <br/><br/>

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