[blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike

[David Andrews]

My kids occasionally used their scooters until they wer3e about 11 or 12.

I read an article the other day that said that many kids are learning 
to ride bicycles without training wheels these days.  They put their 
feet on the ground and push themselves forward.  There are apparently 
even races/competitions using this method, for toddlers, it is 
becoming quite a phenomenon appare3ntly.

Dave

At 06:29 PM 5/30/2017, you wrote:
>She says she wants to learn, but she's embarrassed about the 
>training wheels. What has made this come up now is that she has 
>asked for a new scooter. I'm not sure I want to shell out the money 
>for another scooter, which not many kids her age are still riding.
>
>
>Jo Elizabeth Pinto
>
>"The Bright Side of Darkness"
>Is my award-winning novel,
>Available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats.
>http://www.amazon.com/author/jepinto
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
>Star Gazer via BlParent
>Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2017 6:34 AM
>To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List' <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>Cc: Star Gazer <pickrellrebecca at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike
>
>                                         I'm going to play devil's advocate
>on the side of her dad on this one. Why does she need to learn?
>My husband never learned how to ride a bike, he could never balance.
>Assumming she wants to learn, I'd have one of the neighborhood kids 
>teach her, ideally a boy as they seem to take a lot of pride in 
>teaching this to a girl.
>Maybe her step brother could help?
>I'm trying to convey to you that she doesn't have to learn, and that 
>if she does, it isn't on you to teach this, nor is it on her dad.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jo 
>Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent
>Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2017 1:56 AM
>To: Blind Parents Mailing List <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>Cc: Jo Elizabeth Pinto <jopinto at msn.com>
>Subject: [blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike
>
>Hi everybody. Have any of you taught your children to ride their 
>bikes? My daughter is nine and sighted, and I haven't had much luck 
>at this. She has a bike, but her training wheels are still on. She's 
>embarrassed to ride now, since most of her friends have been without 
>training wheels for a few summers, at least. I've walked behind her, 
>or rather jogged now, for a few years. She can ride independently 
>with the training wheels, but I can't seem to get her over the hump 
>to where she can balance without them. The thing is, I can't run 
>fast enough with her to hold her up so she can stay in balance and 
>have me let go so she'll maintain speed and keep the bike sailing 
>along on her own. The hard truth is that I'm not liable to get any 
>help from her sighted dad on this one. He claims his knees are bad. 
>I'm not sure I believe that, but whether I believe it or not isn't 
>really relevant.
>She has a three-wheeled scooter, but it's on its last wobbles, and 
>she needs to learn to ride her bike. Any ideas?