[blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike

Sun Jun 4 08:28:05 UTC 2017

You know, my dad taught me how to balance in a similar way.  We used the back steps off of our deck and we did it in our backyard so that if I fell I would not get hurt. We did just like you did we had the bike parallel to the step and used it to push off and also hold myself up until I could get enough momentum to carry it along myself. The nice thing was that I could always stick my foot up and catch myself if I felt like I was going to fall so I wasn't so afraid. Something that my dad did that kind of scared me at the time but might have been helpful was he stood in front of me and held the handlebars and tipped the bike to the right into the left until I figured out how far over I would lean until I can stick my foot up and catch myself. I don't know if that would help or not but it helped me a lot because I did not have vision and still don't on my right side and I have always had a very strong fear of falling so it was actually helpful to me.

Please forgive the typos as this message was most likely generated using voice dictation
Nancy Irwin
nvanderbrink at icloud.com
KN4DBQ

> On Jun 4, 2017, at 1:11 AM, Caligrl via BlParent <blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I agree. I watched my older brother teach my sister, and then I taught myself using the same technique. (I was sighted as a child). We had a small cement front porch with 2 or 3 steps going up it, and I held the bike up while standing on the step to get on. To paint you a picture, I positioned the bike so that the steps were on the right side, and the left pedal was on the high point of its circular motion. I sat on the bike and put my left foot on the left  pedal, while using my right foot on the step to hold myself up. Then, when I was ready to go, I used my left foot to pedal (since the pedal was in the high position it was easy to push down on it and get it going)and at the same time I pushed off the step with my right foot and quickly put it on the right pedal, and started to ride around our front yard.
> 
> It took a few attempts to really get the hang of it, but I'm certain it took less than 10 minutes.
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Jacobson via BlParent" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> To: "'Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2017 7:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike
> 
> 
>> Jo Elizabeth,
>> 
>> It has been some years now, but I taught both kids to ride their bicycles.
>> Both kids had some vision loss but were able to see well enough to use
>> normal visual techniques, but of course I had to approach it from a
>> nonvisual angle.  I learned to ride as a blind kid but never rode that well.
>> However, I got the idea well enough to know what needs to happen.  That was
>> helpful to me.
>> 
>> There are so many variables that it is hard to know exactly what to suggest.
>> Each child is very different and your knowledge of riding can also play a
>> role.  A lot of riding is just gaining the trust that the bicycle can remain
>> upright on two wheels.  Finding a gentle slant like a driveway can help.
>> Rather than riding up and down, starting out by riding only down and walking
>> the bicycle back up might help.  If she gets the hang of riding down hill,
>> immediately turning around and trying to ride back up might cancel out the
>> gains just made.
>> 
>> Also, it is almost inevitable that she will fall more than once. Sometimes
>> the fear of falling can interfere with the process.  Make sure that she has
>> some protection against falling such as knee and elbow pads and a helmet.
>> If she knows that she has some protection, it could give her more confidence
>> making her less tense.  Since she likely already has these, make sure to
>> play up how they can protect her to try to lessen the fear of falling if
>> that seems to be an issue.
>> 
>> This has probably already happened, but be certain she has seen other kids
>> ride a lot.  Particularly, make sure she has paid attention to how her
>> friends start out.  This is a difficult thing to convey verbally.
>> 
>> Finally, keep in mind that not all kids ever learn to ride.  Also, if you
>> were to ask around, you would likely find that in most cases, sighted kids
>> learned to ride with little help from sighted parents.  You can do a certain
>> amount, but you can't make a child ride.  At some point, they either will
>> learn or may conclude that it isn't that important.  It is very hard to
>> watch your own child struggle with this so you have my sympathy.  Still, it
>> is important to remember that many, many sighted parents can't run along
>> side of their child as they learn.  You can slant the odds more in their
>> favor but you can't make it happen.
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> Steve
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent  <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> To:  blparent at nfbnet.org
>> CC: jopinto at msn.com
>> Date: Monday, May 29, 2017 11:56 pm
>> 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?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 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
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
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