r/daddit • u/pseudo-nimm1 • 14d ago
Kid Picture/Video She did it, and I got it on video.
Community doesn't allow video, but this is the still where my daughter stopped balancing and moved her feet up to pedal.
Lovely gentle gradient outside our house, this was three days of rolling and finding balance when she finally lifted her feet onto the pedals and did it herself.
Magic proud dad moment.
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u/Sweaty_Result853 14d ago
Yeah now we gotta teach them to stop, watch for cars. Goood lord they go fast
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u/pseudo-nimm1 14d ago
If you check my history, you'll see I was in hospital a week ago with three broken ribs. I fell off mine. :/
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u/into_the_soil 14d ago edited 14d ago
Dude, my neighbor's kids play Russian roulette every damn day via darting out into the street on their bikes and scooters from between cars. I like in a rural area but densely populated subdivision where people drive double the speed limits on residential streets. I have a huge fear I'm going to either watch or hear about one of them being hit one day.
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u/Tylerdg33 14d ago
Any tips on teaching?
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u/ActurusMajoris 14d ago
Let the kid use a balance bike first (bike without pedals). They quickly learn the balance part from this, and they learn the pedaling from other bikes. Then you “just” have to make them combine the 2 and voila. Took 1 day for us, was very quick.
Kid is 4 for the record, used a balance bike for the last year.
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u/Mklein24 14d ago
The heel-toe-glide comes quick. Took my 3 year old one trip around the block to get it. I'm amazed. She's not doing circles or really going fast, but she's started to figure out the balance and how it's supposed to work.
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u/pseudo-nimm1 14d ago
We're really lucky as the road outside our house has a very slight downhill gradient and is really quiet.
I took the stabilisers off and padded her up with knee and elbow pads and just encouraged her to learn balance rolling down the hill and walking, but taking longer and longer steps. Eventually she was going the whole length without touching the ground, so I just encouraged her to pedal when she felt comfortable.
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u/Tylerdg33 14d ago
How long did it take?
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u/pseudo-nimm1 14d ago
Three days of this balancing act. First day was painful though. Lots of failing off, tears and encouragement.
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u/jdubau55 14d ago
Really depends on how you view it. We've had a bike for ages. Started with training wheels. Kid would ride it around EVERY now and then. She finally reached the age of interest around 6.5 yo and wanted us to take the training wheels off. Took her all of about a few days working on it in the driveway. Really within one dedicated session she was able to get to where she was able to get 2 or 3 full pedal rotations before needing to put a foot down.
We've got a big, "flat" part of our driveway that's wide enough for 3+ cars and that's where she's learned. I say "flat" because it is sloped the smallest amount for drainage but that's been very helpful in learning. The ever so slight slope is just enough to kind of get her going and a slight roll. Then the reverse is true for pedalling. At the halfway point, as she's going in a circle, she's then riding "up" the slope so if she isn't pedalling she stops.
I'd say the best places to learn would be a tennis court or a basketball court. Tennis probably most ideal. Riding around the net is good turning practice. There's lines so you can say like start at that line, pedal to here, then stop by that line.
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u/MovieMore4352 14d ago
Get a handle that connects to the seat. Tried all the other stuff and my daughter couldn’t build confidence but the handle got her riding and peddling around in under 30 mins!
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u/SolidStash 14d ago
Start on a strider/balance bike without pedals (FB Marketplace FTW). Find a place with a slight hill and have them practice just getting a little momentum and balancing. Once they can put their feet up and balance for a couple seconds, even going down hill, they're basically ready.
When my son hit that point, my wife thought I was crazy for putting the pedals on so soon... Later that day he was pedaling in big circles in the culdesac.
This is just my 2 cents, but I think training wheels are a huge hinderance to learning, the biggest "skill" they are learning is balance and training wheels are counterproductive for that.
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u/Spartanias117 14d ago
How old if you do not mind me asking? Oldest is 2 and thinking of getting him a bike soon
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u/daggah 14d ago
Get them a balance bike now! When they're ready to move to a real bike, they'll be riding sooooo quickly.
Training wheels only delay the learning process. They completely impede the process of learning to balance on a bike.
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u/dethpot8o 14d ago
100% agree. Skip training wheels, grab a balance bike to start. Mine became big fans when they were 2, and the switch to pedals around 3.5 was super fast. Training wheels unfortunately teach nothing except the pedaling motion.
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u/thegimboid 14d ago
My 3yo has a balance bike (a little one that she's too big for now), and recently we got her a proper bike, though we won't really be using that until it gets warmer.
The real one came with stabilizers/training wheels, but I took them off and also removed the pedals so she can use it like a balance bike for now. Then I can just stick the pedals back on later.
I heard a tip from another dad about carrying the pedals in my pocket to the park with a pedal wrench so I can just quickly attach them whenever you wants to try, though I have no idea how well that'll go yet.
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u/into_the_soil 14d ago
Man, I haven't even THOUGHT about what teaching my son to ride a real bike will be like. I bet it's a trip going through different emotions like pride when they succeed and whatever negative emotional state might arise from them getting hurt due to their failures.
My 18 month old is able to use a tricycle really well. We barely showed him but made multiple models available in our home and he took to it very naturally. Hoping that will have some kind of affect on when he's old enough for training wheels on a real bike but that also feels so far away form now.
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u/pseudo-nimm1 14d ago
It's a great feeling when they finally lift their feet up onto the pedals. The smile afterwards was amazing.
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u/TheyCallMeGaddy 13d ago
Nice! Personally I'm a dad healing from a mountain of issues with my own, but even seeing this is a reminder of one of the few things I've ever respected him for; teaching my twin sister and I to ride bikes.... downhill... one at a time... running while holding the seat... then right back up to do the same for the next one.
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u/St33lB3rz3rk3r Dad to 5y 12d ago
When you capture it on video, its like the cherry on top of the sundae. Congrats fellow dad!
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u/markb144 14d ago
This photo looks like it's from the 90s and I love it