Helping kids learn to cycle
Learning to cycle is an important rite of passage for every kid.
It’s also a terrific activity that the whole family can participate in and kids of all ages absolutely love. And most kids, with a little practice, pick it up pretty easily.
Skills like pedalling, steering and balancing all at the same time are all very important when you make your first moves on a bike. But how do you teach them to cycle? The skills required to ride a bike are basically skills that all kids, given the right equipment and enough opportunity, will naturally pick up.
Here are a few tips to get started:
Try a tricycle
• Give your child a tricycle even before they start walking – most kids master this before they even take their first steps.
• A tricycle helps kids get familiar with cycling early on – developing simultaneous steering and pedalling without having to worry about balance
• Once your child can steer and pedal, you can put them on a small two-wheeled bike with training wheels. Some people suggest two-and-a-half-year-olds are ready for a 12″ wheel bike with training wheels, but make sure they are first confident with steering and pedalling.
Training wheels
• Training wheels are a great way to help your child get the feel for balance.
• Before you start, take your child’s bike into a bike shop to have the wheels, seat and handle bars adjusted correctly – a bike with extra wheels should always have a little bit of lean.
• Run alongside your child holding onto the back of the seat for encouragement and support at first. As he/she becomes more confident you can gradually let go for longer and longer spells.
• Don’t be too quick to get rid of the training wheels. Leave them on until your child is super confident even on bumpy surfaces and around sharp corners.
• It is also a good idea to introduce your child to the basic safety rules of the road before graduating to a “big” bike.
Other tips
• Start the training in a grassy field, where they won’t hurt themselves if they fall.
• Have someone stand at each end of a safe cycling area to give your child a point to aim for.
• Don’t worry too much about a few bumps and bruises. These are par for the course and make the ultimate goal – learning to stay upright – that much sweeter.
• Remember learning to ride a bike is just like learning anything else. It takes practice, practice, practice and heaps of patience.
• Organise a short easy bike ride for a bunch of kids to do together – if older siblings are enjoying cycling the younger ones won’t want to miss out
• Most of all make it fun and stress-free!
Here are a few bike events for the whole family
• Big Bike Fix Ups: Bike Wise is aiming to get 5000 bikes through a free safety check across the country by encouraging people to get their bike out of the shed and down to a local event.
• Go By Bike Day: Wednesday 1 February 2012 – New Zealanders are being encouraged to bike to work or school instead of going in the car. Breakfast events, including free food and entertainment, will be held in more than 50 locations around the country.
• Bike Wise Challenge: 1-29 February 2011 – open to any New Zealand organisation. This is a fun, free, online competition that encourages organisations to get their staff on their bikes for Bike Wise Month.
