Guest Mom: No More Training Wheels

I am a working mom of two children who keep me busy all the time.

If we can hire people to baby proof our homes, teach us how to breastfeed, and cook meals for us, how come I could not hire someone to help my daughter to learn to ride her bike without training wheels? I tried. I offered our next door neighbor who is fifteen the chance to earn some money and she turned me down. So it was up to my husband, my daughter, and I to figure this out. Although she is now the resident “expert” on our block, this accomplishment did not come easy. It has been a labor of love, tears, scrapes, sore backs, discouragement, and dare I say, yelling.

It all started last spring when we had the brilliant idea that she was ready and we removed her training wheels. (Sounds a bit like throwing away all your pacifiers only to have to make a midnight run to the store.) I was advised to just “go cold turkey” and she would be fine. This is where it all went wrong. She refused to ride her bike and for the few fleeting moments that we could get her to give it a try, she ended up in tears and discouraged. So the bike sat in the garage for the next year, until this weekend. On Sunday my daughter awoke asking to ride her bike. We quickly got outside while the moment was right. For the next hour or so she got no more than two feet and she would stop. Her fear of falling was getting the best of her. But just when I thought the bike was on its way back to the garage, she did it.

As I watched with tears in my eyes, I knew we were witnessing another important milestone in her life. First rolling over, crawling, walking, and now riding a “2-wheeler.” Now that she is a pro, we are all considering getting bikes so we can ride as a family. What a great way to exercise and spend time together.