Learning To Ride A Bike

A and J have new bikes. I'm shaking my head wondering where they'll ride them, since we live close to some very busy roads, neither my husband and I have bikes of our own at the moment, and they're too young to use the bikes on their own as transportation.

Still, it's a life skill - gotta learn how to ride! Once you do, you never forget. Right now they're both very dependent on training wheels and parental assistance, so that means the only time they can take them out is when my husband is off work (one parent per kid).

We did this yesterday, with much success! We took the bikes to a nearby park with a big enough paved area (walkways and parking lot) so that they could ride continuously on a level surface (unlike on our hilly driveway, or the teeny patio in our back yard). The park was the ticket! We spent about an hour there, and although A still needs her training wheels, by the time we left she was braking and turning (and enjoying the speed bumps :) with much greater ease than when we arrived. J, on the other hand, spent most of the hour running beside his bike pushing it. Hey, that's ok - it was another form of exercise, and he clearly loves his new bike.

We're going to try and do this at least once a week. When the kids have enough solid skill, I'll then be able to take them out without my husband, and jog while they ride. This is still a bit far off, though, because the area we live in has too many hills and too much traffic for my liking. I'll have to see how it goes, I guess.

Meanwhile, so far so good :)



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Raising My Type A Child

Sports day bike parade...

(First of all let me reiterate that Alyssa is 5 1/2, and in Kindergarten. She is the youngest in her class, but has more than enough attitude and spunk to compensate.)

So we're moving around the back field of the school in the bike parade. Picture bumpy grass, and a long hill. The older kids are not really having any problems, but many of the younger ones are having to get off their bikes and push.

ME: "Darlin', just get off and push, ok? We're going to be left behind."

A: "No Mommy I want to pedal! I can DO it!"

She's pedalling furiously as the back wheel of her bike spins without gaining any traction, because, of course, her training wheels are hung up on lumps of grass.

I grab her handle bars in an attempt to help her along, only to be vehemently chastised:

"MOMMY!!! I want to DO IT MYSELF!!"

She won't let me pull, she won't get off and push, and she's stuck in the grass. I can feel my blood boiling out my ears as my own Type A control freak tendencies are being grossly stressed. I finally resort to threats:

"Do you want to go home??!!"

(oh the joys. Isn't sports day a hoot.)

We eventually make it to the gym, where the bikes are stored during the events, but not without her teacher having to hunt us down because we were so late.

All was well in the end, and we didn't miss any of the events. We even ended the day on a good note, with minimal head butting between us.

One of these days I'll figure out how to handle her in a way that is not as confrontational. Meanwhile I just take it day by day...