Teaching my Kid to Ride a Bicycle

Sometimes I wish I had bought a tricycle for my eldest daughter when she was little. Her Dad did buy her a bicycle with training wheels when she was about 3 but it was a bicycle that would have suited a 5 year-old better (I must ask him if I can get it for my nearly 6 year-old).

Anyway, to get back on the subject to teaching my kid how to ride her bicycle, she has no experience of pedalling and she must learn to keep her balance on 2 wheels so it is tricky (and painful for my back too). Since I have a small yard and another younger daughter that I can't leave at home on her own, if you see a wobbly pink bicycle on a big footpath with a woman taking turns holding the seat and picking up the kid followed by a smaller kid flying in front of us on her scooter, that's us!

Yesterday we went to a sportsground nearby to have more space to practice as well as softer landings and so far so good, I managed to let her go and she didn't fall straightaway; I am also more confident in letting her go as I know the grass won't hurt her as much as a hard ground - sometimes I wonder which one of us needs training the most but that's mothers for you!

My daughter is so proud of herself when she manages to cycle for a short while on her own that she doesn't even seem to mind falling down. There has been lots of falling and laughing and her (our?) confidence is building. It should not take her too long now to learn but I am wondering what I signed up for when I let her her have a bicycle because I really don't want to see her riding on the roads yet as there are no bicycle lanes around here. Hopefully she will be happy enough staying on the footpaths around our house until she gets a little older but even then, I will be a nervous wreck when the time comes to let her go.

I thought things would get much easier after both my kids were toilet trained but it turns out it's just one thing after another and life is only getting more stressful as children grow. Sometimes I wish they could just both get back inside my tummy but that would not be very practical. Ah well, it won't be long now before they have their own lives and they throw me into an old folks home, no more worries for me then!