Miss Nine can sometimes be a little anxious, and a scaredy-cat. We have been trying to teach her to ride her bike for some time. She rides her bike around the block when we walk, but always with her training wheels on. At even the slightest dip she stops and walks her bike. If there is a curb, even a gentle one, she walks her bike. My Dear Husband recently decided to step things up and took the training wheels off. Every day after work for over a week he would come home and hold the back of Miss Nine’s seat and they would “ride” up the sidewalk in front of our home. Generally, with the rare exception, if My Dear Husband even thought about letting go, Miss Nine would stop. (Nine-year-olds must be able to sense when someone is thinking of letting go of a bike seat, it’s part of the mystical powers that nine-year-olds have, don’t you know?) “I am afraid of falling,” was Miss Nine’s reason.
Frustrated with little progress My Dear Husband did what any frustrated red blooded American father would do, he turned to Google. There had to be a better way. Holding the seat had worked for My Dear Husband’s father, but it was clearly not going to work for Miss Nine.
Watching this three minute video changed Miss Nine’s life.
After watching the video and this video . . .
My Dear Husband took off Miss Nine’s peddles. At a family outing, Daddy cajoled Miss Nine back on the bike with promises of, “It will be different this time.” Reluctantly Miss Nine got back on. She worked her feet back and forth, and Daddy counted out how long she could hold her feet up before she set them back down. Fifteen minutes later My Dear Husband suggested that Miss Nine try riding with the peddles back on, and that was all it took. Miss Nine wobbled, and then rode her bike.
Miss Nine is now a bike rider. She has a smidge more independence than she used to. Thankfully, that independence doesn’t require gas or insurance, just confirmation of courage, and a helmet.
A cute helmet.
