Caden Rides a Bike!!

This is one of the moments you look forward to as a parent. Like, first steps, first word, school, etc. etc. Teaching your kid to ride a bike and seeing them master it with such excitement really makes you feel like you are doing a good job. At least that is what I imagine it is like. Caden really didn’t need us for this particular accomplishment. Sure, I did the normal run behind him while holding the bike, told him he could do it, gave him all the advice I could (which he probably ignored since I recently ended up in the hospital in a biking accident). But in the end, he figured it out when I left him alone. It took about 10 minutes from first trying it out till he was riding on his own. Amazing!

Most of the credit goes to the Strider Bike. If you haven’t heard of this, it is genius. It is a small bike sans pedals. It is just high enough that the child uses their feet on the ground to propel and stop themselves. The concept of course is that as they go faster, they tend to pick up their feet and are essentially balancing on two wheels. Caden had his Strider for about a year getting faster and more stable on it. So by this time, balance was there, nothing else to teach him on that point. There was some time spent teaching him the mechanics of pedaling, something which takes a bit of coordination if you stop and think about it, but after that, we were done. Not even four and he has it down.

I still do run next to him as he learns to control the bike better. Important lessons include not looking at all the pretty sights around him or taking his feet of the pedals and, of course, that all too important lesson about stopping the bike. But he is getting it. It actually is almost unfair how he is learning. The bike he has is a cheap thing we found at a garage sale that weighs AT LEAST twice as much as my bike (and I am not exaggerating). With the tiny wheels and small pedal stokes, it is ton of work for him to get up hills and go long distances. But he does it. It exhausts him but he loves every second of it. There is going to be much fun, and blood, in the coming years! Some pictures and a video...

I had better review my insurance policy....