Every American child knows that getting your first bike is a rite of passage. It is the first of many large, noticeable steps on the road to independence and earning your parents trust.
For his fourth birthday, K joined the ranks of American children who own a bike.
Knowing that he likely wouldn't be able to use it, and would possibly be upset about it, I chose to get him a bike (with training wheels!) anyways-what harm could it do? If he had it and couldn't use it, it would serve as motivation to learn to use it, to learn to use his leg muscles in ways that they were not designed for.
K will not watch where he is going. He stares instead at his feet on the pedals. He cannot get off the bike on his own. He cannot turn. He cannot stop himself.
But he can get his helmet and pads on himself. He can get on the bike himself. Best of all?
HE CAN PEDAL BY HIMSELF.
"I do not want you to help, Mom," he said to me, as he climbed onto that bike again. With a storm raging outside in the Florida heat, I had decided to allow him to attempt riding his bike in our living room.
Imagine, if you will, my absolute shock when, while draining the pasta for dinner, I turned around to find him seated proudly on his bike right behind me...and the jolt when he asked me to help him get off, at which point he turned his bike back around, clambered back on, and rode proudly off into the living room.
ALONE.
No Mommy pushing him, no adult running along behind him, ready and waiting to patch up his ouchies when he falls. ALONE. He crashed into a wall when he couldn't figure out how to turn to avoid it, a problem he wouldn't have encountered to start with had he bothered to look up from his feet on the pedals, and he cannot get down alone...
BUT HE CAN DO IT.
Children all across the US learn to ride bikes by the time they are in kindergarten without training wheels. K will enter pre-k in two weeks; his bike has training wheels. His bike will probably have training wheels for a very long time. The point is not how he does it, the point, my dears, is that HE DOES IT.
For his fourth birthday, K joined the ranks of American children who own a bike.
Knowing that he likely wouldn't be able to use it, and would possibly be upset about it, I chose to get him a bike (with training wheels!) anyways-what harm could it do? If he had it and couldn't use it, it would serve as motivation to learn to use it, to learn to use his leg muscles in ways that they were not designed for.
K will not watch where he is going. He stares instead at his feet on the pedals. He cannot get off the bike on his own. He cannot turn. He cannot stop himself.
But he can get his helmet and pads on himself. He can get on the bike himself. Best of all?
HE CAN PEDAL BY HIMSELF.
"I do not want you to help, Mom," he said to me, as he climbed onto that bike again. With a storm raging outside in the Florida heat, I had decided to allow him to attempt riding his bike in our living room.
Imagine, if you will, my absolute shock when, while draining the pasta for dinner, I turned around to find him seated proudly on his bike right behind me...and the jolt when he asked me to help him get off, at which point he turned his bike back around, clambered back on, and rode proudly off into the living room.
ALONE.
No Mommy pushing him, no adult running along behind him, ready and waiting to patch up his ouchies when he falls. ALONE. He crashed into a wall when he couldn't figure out how to turn to avoid it, a problem he wouldn't have encountered to start with had he bothered to look up from his feet on the pedals, and he cannot get down alone...
BUT HE CAN DO IT.
Children all across the US learn to ride bikes by the time they are in kindergarten without training wheels. K will enter pre-k in two weeks; his bike has training wheels. His bike will probably have training wheels for a very long time. The point is not how he does it, the point, my dears, is that HE DOES IT.
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