[blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike

[Jo Elizabeth Pinto]

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