Miranda has been ready to take the training wheels off of her bike for a while. The problem was she loved the training wheels because she claimed that she could ride and glide so much faster and she thinks it’s because of the training wheels. We tried to upgrade her to a bigger bike (Ally’s old bike) with training wheels because she is simply too big for her little bike. She didn’t want anything to do with letting go of her small bike. She just loves it.
We tried to take the training wheels off before. She said she was ready and wanted them off and then once we took them off, she was very upset and screaming and carrying on. One time, it was pretty embarrassing. So Gabe would put the wheels back on and we’d call it a day. We want it to be fun and a challenge, but not something so horrific it makes her cry.
We tried to teach her the way we taught the two older kids to ride their bikes, but she really didn’t quite grasp why she had to walk her bike and glide on a small slope while sitting on it (without pedals) and no matter how we showed her and explained it to her, she just wanted to get on her bike with training wheels and ride FAST. She would ride so fast that when she braked, sometimes she’d leave tread marks.
After a few times, we just stopped taking the training wheels off when she asked us to. I know that sounds horrible, but we weren’t up to another public cry-fest. We’d just remind her that we had taken them off before and she was afraid and there wasn’t any rush. She could learn any time. But then while we had all the kids on the bike trail, she asked again and I said to Gabe, ya know, she’s pretty small/light and she really can pedal fast. How about we just go to the school up here and run along with her and let go. You know the old-fashioned way of teaching kids to ride a bike? Lo and behold that worked! Then because the bike is so small, she could simply put her feet down if she got scared or wanted to stop.
She was a bit afraid at first because she wasn’t sure if we were holding on or not, and then she really took off. She needs more practice with starting and stopping (Not so easy with a puny bike), but she’s riding without the training wheels. Now the problem is getting her more practice before it’s freezing here. We’ve had some cold weather the last few days. 🙁 In the photos, you’ll see she had the training wheels on at the bike trail and then off at the school (near the nature center).
Congratulations, Miranda. I’m so proud of you. Next year is going to be so much more fun! Look out, Matthew! You’re next!
Wow, what a summer!
I’m so thrilled that I had my camera on me, but I was so excited that the photos I took were all blurry. LOL
