Persuading a reluctant 5yo
-
- Posts: 982
- Joined: 5 Dec 2010, 6:31pm
Persuading a reluctant 5yo
Our 5yo was quite capable on a balance bike but just won’t ride her big girl’s bike without stabilisers. She does hurtle about on it though.
Any suggestions what we might try? #1 took to it alllikr a duck to water.
Any suggestions what we might try? #1 took to it alllikr a duck to water.
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
They are all different , my youngest was 8 before he felt confident enough to ride without, my advice would be don't worry and don't push it
NUKe
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
-
- Posts: 982
- Joined: 5 Dec 2010, 6:31pm
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
Aye, not keen To push it and don’t want to put her off.
On the other hand, it’d be better if she did it...
On the other hand, it’d be better if she did it...
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
I’d agree not to push it.
I’d be tempted to remove the stabilisers, the pedals and lower the saddle. Leave it accessable like that and let her play in it the same as she did the balance bike.
My question is why did you ever let her see it with stabilisers? I thought it was meant to be a natural progression from balance to bike.
I’d be tempted to remove the stabilisers, the pedals and lower the saddle. Leave it accessable like that and let her play in it the same as she did the balance bike.
My question is why did you ever let her see it with stabilisers? I thought it was meant to be a natural progression from balance to bike.
Whatever I am, wherever I am, this is me. This is my life
https://stcleve.wordpress.com/category/lejog/
E2E info
https://stcleve.wordpress.com/category/lejog/
E2E info
-
- Posts: 982
- Joined: 5 Dec 2010, 6:31pm
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
She didn’t. She went on endlessly about how she needed them, presumably as her friends’ bikes have them.
-
- Posts: 36781
- Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
I'd agree there's no point in "pushing" a reluctant child to ride a bike, but I had some success with pretending to push my younger son.
The older one took to cycling immediately on a Raleigh "pavement" bike and wouldn't have been seen dead with stabilisers. The younger one in his turn was much more cautious and insisted he needed them. Even his older brother referring to them as babylisers didn't deter him. We went on holiday to a place near New Galloway in Scotland where the roads were really quiet in those days - 1976 IIRC. Out came the bike, still without stabilisers and it was tantrums. I eventually persuaded him to try without and he agreed, so long as I didn't let go of his saddle. He was immediately riding along independently, shouting at me not to let go, with me pretending I was still holding on. After perhaps a couple of hundred yards he came to a natural stop and when he found he had been riding on his own without difficulty, he didn't know whether to be pleased or angry, so he did a bit of both, but he never looked back.
(I thought I had posted about this before but I couldn't find it.)
The older one took to cycling immediately on a Raleigh "pavement" bike and wouldn't have been seen dead with stabilisers. The younger one in his turn was much more cautious and insisted he needed them. Even his older brother referring to them as babylisers didn't deter him. We went on holiday to a place near New Galloway in Scotland where the roads were really quiet in those days - 1976 IIRC. Out came the bike, still without stabilisers and it was tantrums. I eventually persuaded him to try without and he agreed, so long as I didn't let go of his saddle. He was immediately riding along independently, shouting at me not to let go, with me pretending I was still holding on. After perhaps a couple of hundred yards he came to a natural stop and when he found he had been riding on his own without difficulty, he didn't know whether to be pleased or angry, so he did a bit of both, but he never looked back.
(I thought I had posted about this before but I couldn't find it.)
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
Ours were quite different too. Our son had his first bike at three, and broke three pairs of stabilisers in about four months, at which point I got fed up and taught him to ride without them. Our daughter was simply not interested in learning and refused all encouragement, keeping her stabilisers (the same set, if I remember correctly) until six and a half.
-
- Posts: 15215
- Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
I would back off and let her do what she wants, little girls can be rebellious
Text from a cartoon, on seeing a millipede
Adult:
Wow, I have never seen a creature with so many legs, do come and see
Child:
No!
- it is so interesting
- No!
-It is beautiful
- No!
- It is..... dis-gusting
- Where? Let me see!
Text from a cartoon, on seeing a millipede
Adult:
Wow, I have never seen a creature with so many legs, do come and see
Child:
No!
- it is so interesting
- No!
-It is beautiful
- No!
- It is..... dis-gusting
- Where? Let me see!
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
-
- Posts: 8399
- Joined: 31 Jan 2007, 6:46pm
- Location: Horwich Which is Lancs :-)
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
As others, don't push it... will do it when she is ready or realises everyone else is doing it without her... Son was 8/9 before he really got to grips with it. He never had stabilisers...just Mum running alongside holding on to the saddle... letting go when he was unsuspecting. But it was quite a while before he had the full confidence to properly balance on his own. He wasn't even keen to 'balance' on a scooter so I was quite amused to arrive at after school club one day, and to see the determined look on his face as he concentrated on trying to scoot and balance.... at least he was making the effort in his own good time.
One of the delights of New Forest Cycling week is seeing at least one child take off and ride their own bike around the camp site... encouraged I am sure by the fact that so many others are doing the same... they just get on and do it.
One of the delights of New Forest Cycling week is seeing at least one child take off and ride their own bike around the camp site... encouraged I am sure by the fact that so many others are doing the same... they just get on and do it.
I stand and rejoice everytime I see a woman ride by on a wheel the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. HG Wells
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
You could try taking off one of the stabilisers. That was my father's method and it weaned 3 of us off stabilisers pretty quickly and for your daughter will seem like a progression to eventually cycling without.
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
All kids are different. My oldest learned to ride her pedal bike when she was 4 and has hardly looked back. At 11 (almost 12) she now rides the 2 miles to school every day. My youngest learned to ride his pedal bike when he was six, and at 9 still prefers the back of the tandem.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
I had a couple more thoughts about this... Some children are happy to do/attempt things for rewards (bribes!).
You can also try taking the pedals off, as well as the stabilisers and letting her ride it as a 'balance bike'.
You can also try taking the pedals off, as well as the stabilisers and letting her ride it as a 'balance bike'.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
-
- Posts: 1903
- Joined: 1 Feb 2018, 10:20am
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
ratherbeintobago wrote:Our 5yo was quite capable on a balance bike but just won’t ride her big girl’s bike without stabilisers. She does hurtle about on it though.
Any suggestions what we might try? #1 took to it alllikr a duck to water.
#5
-
- Posts: 982
- Joined: 5 Dec 2010, 6:31pm
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
Marcus Aurelius wrote:ratherbeintobago wrote:Our 5yo was quite capable on a balance bike but just won’t ride her big girl’s bike without stabilisers. She does hurtle about on it though.
Any suggestions what we might try? #1 took to it alllikr a duck to water.
#5
Rule 5?
Re: Persuading a reluctant 5yo
ratherbeintobago wrote:Our 5yo was quite capable on a balance bike but just won’t ride her big girl’s bike without stabilisers. She does hurtle about on it though.
Any suggestions what we might try? #1 took to it alllikr a duck to water.
I'd also be inclined to wait, but half-seriously you might point out that real big girl's bikes don't have stabilisers. This sort of thing is fine for big girls, but not stabilisers...
More seriously, stabilisers are frowned on in cycle training circles because while they make pedalling easier they make balance and steering inherently unlike a normal bike, and at speed you can't lean in to bends properly and don't have the greater stability of a proper trike. This isn't anything new, mind... I was forbidden them in the 70s even though they looked like a good idea to me at the time, but my folks had it right!
Shutting the stable door when the horse is away, but if there's a Next Time just refuse to have anything to do with them...
Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...