[blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike

[Wendy Meuse]

rOh Judy I remember those Pogo sticks.  I mastered one after a while but it was pretty scary.  Did you try stilts?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judy Jones via BlParent" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Judy Jones" <sonshines59 at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2017 4:21 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Teaching a Sighted Child to Ride a Bike


Hello, Elizabeth,

I think the big key here is to relax and tell your daughter that everyone masters this skill at different ages. One day she'll all 
of a sudden get it and take off. Since she is nine, I wouldn't be following behind her as with a younger child unless she is asking 
you, because like you said, she has to get up the speed to balance. For instance, maybe you can say something like, "Let's see how 
far you can go by yourself. I'm here if you need me." Tell her to do just as much as she feels comfortable, not to worry about it, 
and keep telling her it'll come. Both of you may be unknowingly trying too hard.

I faced the same thing when trying to teach our girls how to swim. The older they got, the less they needed me to hang onto them, 
and as long as I was near, but not actually touching them, they got it.

With the bike, each had a bike, and I remember both riding with training wheels, but neither was a dare-devil and careful, and they 
somehow managed to learn on their own. I remember being asked one day to take the training wheels off, so figured they were ready 
after asking the question, and they were. I know that doesn't sound like much of an answer, but I think once the stress of having to 
learn is off of both of you, everything will click into place. Maybe you can have a special Girls' Day to celebrate when she masters 
riding on her own.

Another memory, I was determined to learn how to use a pogo stick, and I mastered it by myself out in our front trive, and I got to 
where I could jump off curbs and a couple of steps with it.

Enjoy, and let us know how it goes.



Judy
sent from the U2 Mini

----- 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. A
 ny 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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