How to teach a child to ride a bike

Every parent faces this challenge to teach their child to ride a bike when they are about 5 to 10 years of age. Therefore, not only choosing the right bike for kids is important but also one should have at the least an idea to do it without facing any mishaps and unfortunate accidents. So here is a general overview on how to teach your child ride her or his first bicycle.

The first thing that should be taken into consideration is to choose the right bicycle for the child depending on the age of the child. The second thing to remember is that the sole purpose of learning is to acquire the three most basic skill sets namely how to balance, pedal and steer. Usually, a tricycle serves as the first bike for most children. It is ideal to get a tricycle before the toddler learns to walk so that he or she learns to steer. Once the child masters this concept he or she will easily learn to pedal however it is advisable to restrict the limit of the boundaries to either within the house or a fenced courtyard. For most children a tricycle becomes impractical once they have reached the age of two to three years. This is for the simple reason that he or she ‘out grows’ it. They gain more confidence as they become stronger and thereby increase the chance of the tricycle going at a speed that is in danger of it getting toppled over. Therefore, for a child who is older than 2 ½ years old it is better to get a 12 inch bicycle with training wheels and brakes. These kid’s bikes with training wheels are not only safer than tricycles and do not dwarf the learning process.

Once the child has learnt how to steer and pedal, next is balancing. Children’s bikes come equipped with various accessories to assist in learning to acquire this skill. However, buying expensive equipment is unnecessary for all that’s required are the training wheels.

Though training wheels do not guarantee that there will be no accidents nor do they speed up the process of learning, they do prevent most of the mishaps possible and help the child overcome fear. The right way to adjust a training wheel is to have them slightly lifted so that there is always a tilt on either side, this way the brakes get more effective while riding over uneven surface. Another popular and traditional method is to trot behind the child with ones hand on the shoulder and gradually let go without letting the child know. This gives the child the feeling of security and is quite effective.

Since more than anything else the safety of the child is important, one should not ignore the safety equipments that are necessary. The kid should be taught to wear a helmet at all times plus knee pads and gloves too. One should also invest in decent brakes both the back-peddling as well as the front brakes. All these added with a little patience and faith in your child, teaching him or her to first biking experience will be a pleasurable experience.