Vroom Vroom.. Riding a Bicycle

    I am not a fan of unnecessary middle steps.  Baby steps are often needed, allowing a child to gradually learn a skill.  However, when I start teaching the princess something new, I try to think about every step separately and question it's importance.  Sometimes these middle steps are very important and other times I can leave them out of the lesson. When a step doesn't seam necessary, I question the pros and cons of teaching that way. When potty training, we didn't use pull ups (except for sleeping hours) and when we taught the princess to ride a bike I was completely against the idea of using training wheels. 
    When The princess turned four, we bought her a bike.  This was her first bike after a tricycle but when she jumped on her bike she was riding a little differently than the other kids in the neighborhood.  Why?  Her feet were not on peddles.  In fact, there were not any peddles!  You may have heard of this technique, but from my experience, most have not.  I had not heard of it prior to this year.  Before we bought her bike, I had concerns about the gravel road we lived on.  Training wheels did not seam like they would work well on the gravel or be very safe.  Then, I remembered seeing kids fall off their bikes as they tried to turn corners too fast while relying on the training wheels. I was also afraid that the training wheels would serve as a crutch. She was a fearless three year old, I was afraid that fear would set in as she got older and would be too used to the training wheels to easily adapt to not having them later on.   I wondered if she needed the training wheels at all.  How old does a child need to be before riding without training wheels?  Could they just move straight from a tricycle to a bike without training wheels?  I had never heard of anybody giving their child her first bike without training wheels, but was it possible?  I got on the Internet, went from website to website, searching for answers. What I found out was not only was it possible, but for a technique that I had never heard of, there sure was a lot on the Internet about it.  I didn't use one persons advice, but fifty, because everybody said the same thing.
    So how did we do it? How did we teach her to ride without ever using training wheels? We bought an extra small bike.  She would need to  able to put his or her feet flat on the ground.  If you are considering using this approach  you are probably seeing dollar signs  Buying an extra small bike means you will have to be buying a new bike in the near future.  This could get expensive but if you are a thrifty shopper you can bring down the price significantly.  My advice is to check thrift shops or use a hand-me-down.  You could probably get by with borrowing a bike from a friend  until your child has learned to ride and you can buy a larger bike.  You will probably be able to return the bike to its owner in a few weeks!  
    When we gave her the bike, we took off the training wheels and the peddles.  Since the princess knew how to ride a tricycle, her problem with a big bike was not going to be with peddling but with balance.  We let the princess ride around for a few weeks using her feet to move the bike.  She was getting used to balancing the bike.  When she was increasing speed and then picking her feet up without falling over, I knew she was ready to ride!  Putting everything together was a bit tricky for her.  But, within an hour, our princess was riding all by herself.  We did have to remember that she just turned four.  We couldn't give her instructions the same way we would a school-age child.  If you are using this method, your child is probably three or four years old.  Teach your child the same way you teach anything else.  We used sound effects, kind voices, and a lot of excitement.  One thing we did to make learning to ride a bike less stressful was make motorcycle sounds as she rode.  My parents got a good laugh from the video I sent them of her riding.  The king was hunched over, running next to the princess, singing "Vroom Vroom, Vroom Vroom" over and over.  It may have looked silly but it was successful! 
    I only wished I knew about the method earlier.  I really didn't know it could be that easy!  This was a stress-free approach to teaching a child to ride a bike.  Now the Princess can cruise over gravel roads and grass on her "big kid" bike!