Contributed by Philippa Robb:
Remember how fun it was when you finally learnt to ride your bike? Now you’d love your children to experience that freedom, but how do you do it? Local parent and cycle instructor Philippa Robb explains how to get your little ones onto two wheels. A lot of patience is required, but with a little effort the result is well worth it….
First, make sure your child is ready. Cycling is fun, liberating and healthy when you want to do it, but for children who aren’t yet ready it’s scary and very hard work for parents! So keep things easy and get them going when they want to. There’s no magic age to start learning.
For tiny children, balance bikes without pedals can be better than a bike with stabilisers. They make the transition to a proper bike much easier because your child will have picked up the concept of using momentum to balance. If your child’s already using stabilisers, get them into the habit of copying the way you get your bike going – by pushing off with one foot to get some movement before beginning to pedal.
If your child wants to have a go, here are some top tips for getting them up:
Make sure the bike fits and make sure it works, that the tyres are pumped up, the brakes are working and the chain is running smoothly.
Find a very gentle slope on hard grass or tarmac where there are no vehicles, hold the back of the saddle, run alongside them and let your child know that you’ll only let go when he/she says you can. You’ll know when they’re ready to go on their own, but expect them to tumble, so you may need to repeat this step a lot!
Teach them to “set their pedal” (one foot on the pedal and the other on the ground) to push off. Either foot will do.
Show your child where their brakes are and make sure they can reach them. Most children’s bikes are sold with adult-sized brake levers which small hands can’t reach. If you’re buying a bike new, ask the bike shop to pull the levers in. Teach your child to cycle with their fingers covering both brakes at all times so that they’ll be able to stop the bike quickly without going over the handlebars.
Cycle in short spurts and have fun. Have lots of little breaks with heaps of praise and stories of how much fun cycling is and all the exciting things you can do together on a bike.
About the author:
Philippa Robb has taught thousands of schoolchildren and adults Bikeability since 2007. She also trains up new National Standard Instructors and is a Bikeability Quality Assessor for the Department for Transport as well as working with lorry drivers in a bid to boost safety for cyclists in London. For rates and information, she can be contacted via philippa.robb@gmail.com.
