Teaching a child to ride a bike is almost a rite of passage. It’s a great form of exercise for children and it goes well with their desire for speedy adventures either in the garden or beyond in local parks, forests or holiday cycle routes.
But as a parent, it can be tough to know where to start. Many of us learned to ride a bicycle at such a young age, it’s difficult to remember how we were taught. This article will give you all the top tips and tricks to teach a child to ride a bike in no time at all!
We’ll start with a video on how to do it and then I’ll answer all the frequently asked questions!
FAQ Questions
What’s the best age to teach a child to ride a bike?
Each child is different but a lot of children are ready to learn between the ages of 3 and 8! The factors influencing how fast they want to learn can include:
- Having siblings or family members who already ride - riding a bike is a very effective mode of transport, particularly for little legs!
- Them already having an interest in it - Maybe they’ve been using scooters and are ready for an upgrade!
Either way, there’s no right or wrong in this and there’s no rush either!
How do I teach an older child to ride a bike?
If your child is a little bit older and they want to learn, the same methods of teaching them applies. As long as they learn on a bike where they can put a foot on the floor to steady themselves, then they could use the glide method to learn to ride a bike, REMOVE THE PEDALS and stabilisers, help them to learn to balance first.
As with all learners wanting to cycle, the key is to have fun and keep those anxiety levels down if you want them to be confident riders, if possible avoid clashes with personalities.
If my child is scared, how do I teach them to ride a bike?
Your child might be frightened after a bad experience. Maybe they’ve fallen off the bike and hurt themselves in the past and it’s made them a little bit anxious. Positive feedback and lots of encouragement will really help them feel confident again and get back on track with learning. If that still doesn’t help and you can tell they’d really benefit from learning, then in this case, a few
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