[blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike

Mon Jun 5 18:31:48 UTC 2017

Thanks to everyone. We're working on it, but it seems to be very slow going.

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 Caligrl via BlParent
Sent: Saturday, June 3, 2017 11:08 PM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Caligrl <caligrl717 at gmail.com>; Steve Jacobson <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike

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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