How do you teach a kid to ride a bike?

For Christmas Henry (my son) was given a bike. No I am not boasting in anyway or sponsored by the company it was purchased from, it is just I thought I would share my tips and tricks on how to teach a child to ride a bike.

My Son Practicing on his new bike

First of all, they need to get their motor skills working, so learning to walk and run, is the start.

You can get little bikes which have peddles on them to begin with and help place their legs onto the peddles and push their legs round forwards to see that this how you drive the bike along.

#Importanttip Always make sure if it is a bigger bike even with stabilizers, that they wear a helmet. The earlier you teach them to wear protective gear when riding a bike the more they will stick to wearing their protective equipment.

The amount of times I see adults riding bikes with no protection at all and they are on the roads, is astonishing and crazy in my opinion. Why wouldn’t you wear a helmet to protect your head, when lets face it is a dangerous place to hit should you collide with another vehicle.

#Tip2 Take them to safe place to practice riding their bike, like to a park or a playground, so they can get used to it. Allow them space to learn on their own once they have picked up the basics then they can start riding more and their confidence with the bike grows.

Children learn as they grow and taking gradual steps is the best way to help with their development and learning.

#Tip3 I wouldn’t allow them to be near roads until they have safely picked up and are fully confident on their bikes. In the meantime, you can still teach them as they are learning to ride their bike about road safety and what to do when they reach a road, to look left and right, and only cross when all other vehicles have stopped or the road is clear.

#Tip4 Always make sure that they know not to ride off too far. I often see parents allow their children even on scooters to shoot off, but they need to learn not to go too far and if they do come across the road to stop at all times.

I hope you find this helpful, learning to ride a bike is fun and allow them to enjoy the experience as much as possible but always put safety at the top of the list especially when it comes to roads.

I have come across a video that will help you to teach your child to ride a bike aswell.

Many thanks for reading.

Carrie X

Stressful Parenting

I wrote a blog on my site called Everyone can build a castle on wordpress.com about Dealing with Stress 

I talk about how I get so stressed out when it comes to taking my son to school, and I have even written a post called Getting children to school where I talk about getting a child to school and doing it gradually.

If you suffer with anxiety like I do, doing things gradually rather than all in one go, really helps lower the pressure and helps me get through the morning.

Once my son is in school I breath a sigh of relief and get on with my day.

Why as parents do we get so stressed?

I wish I knew the answer but I think it is the overwhelming pressure in my case of getting my son to school safely as there are some big roads in between.

I picture the worse case scenario to help make myself aware of the dangers that can happen. It makes me take extra care not to let Henry cross the road without checking whats coming first, so he will eventually learn to do the same.

My husband says I panic over the slightest thing, but I am worrier, and I can’t help but worry, it is part of my DNA I have come to realise.

Does it make me being a worrier effect me as a parent?

I think so but I’d rather be aware of the dangers rather than not, and I know that the stress isn’t gonna last for long, it is only for 20 minutes or so.

The same goes when it comes to toilet training, has Henry had an accident at school or not, so far he has been accident free, and getting to bed especially during the night can be stressful aswell, but again I just tell myself eventually he will go back to sleep, and everything will be alright.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X