Mom Struggles with Teaching Her Child to Ride

I saw this BLOG post this morning.  It sounds like many parents I have talked to over the last year.  You can click on her post and see my comments.  I have also added my comments belows. 

Bike Coach

Guest Mom: No More Training Wheels

I am a working mom of two children who keep me busy all the time.

 

Excerpt:

If we can hire people to baby proof our homes, teach us how to breastfeed, and cook meals for us, how come I could not hire someone to help my daughter to learn to ride her bike without training wheels? I tried. I offered our next door neighbor who is fifteen the chance to earn some money and she turned me down. So it was up to my husband, my daughter, and I to figure this out. Although she is now the resident “expert” on our block, this accomplishment did not come easy. It has been a labor of love, tears, scrapes, sore backs, discouragement, and dare I say, yelling.

 

 

Comments by Bike Coach:

Hello Guest Mom, I have heard your story dozens if not
hundreds a hundred times.  We want our children to ride, feel the freedom and
confidence it all brings only to have them frustrated and then scared to try any
more.  I am very proud for your daughter that she had the persistence to keep
trying.    

If I may give some advise for the next Mom or Dad:
struggling with the “learning to ride a bike process”.  This mom started off right,
taking the training wheels off.  Only, you needed to add one more step, take the Pedals off also.  Balance is the key to riding, not pedaling.  With the pedals
off make sure they can be on the seat with their feet flat on the ground and a
slight bend in their legs.  They must be completely comfortable that they can
put their feet on the ground easily to keep themselves up right.  Too small is
much better than too large.  Now they can push the bike like a scooter or I call
it a pushbike.  The progression is a simple as walk, run, coast, coast and turn
(s turns).  No need to push they will get it very quickly.  A big open parking
lot with a slight slope is very helpful.  Once you see they can balance and
control their bike put the pedals back on. (I have more helpful hints if anyone is interested).

I started telling my friends and neighbors about this more
than 10 years ago.  Some would do it with great success while other went another
direction, so I decided to prove it works and make it easier for parents to
engage their children.  I wrote a children’s picture book called “Learning to Ride with the Bits”.  It is my families’ true story of how my
children learned to ride using the method I briefly described above.  The book
allows children to see themselves in the process.  It is also great parent time
reading together.  I say I wrote it to help teach children and their parents an
effective way to learn to ride, fun for kids and easy for parents.  My family
and I started teaching classes mostly to show that it really works and found
there is a big need and we loved it.  Over the last year we have had more than
200 kids (ages 3 – 16) learn to ride in 4 1-hours sessions (95% successful). 
Now I cannot seem to keep up with training request now and my regular job as the
word has gotten out.  I never dreamed I could touch the lives of so many
children and their parents. The testimonials have been great. 

I anyone out there is interested in starting training
programs in their community I would be happy to discuss further. 

Best Regards,

Harvey A. Nix

Aka “Bike Coach” or “Daddy Bit”

www.notrainingwheels.net

www.bikecoachonline.com

 

Two-Wheel Success Creates Confidence

This article was written about how No Training Wheels LLC started in the Life section of Over the Mountain Journal (Birmingham, AL) just before fathers day 2008. 

Please email me if you have any questions.

Bike Coach……

hnix@notrainingwheels.net

Two-Wheel Success Creates Confident Kids

Cary Estes

Over The Mountain Journal Staff Writer

Tuesday June 10, 2008

Harvey Nix In raising his three children, Harvey Nix wanted to ensure that they would one day be able to stand on their own two feet. And one of the best steps in that direction, he discovered, was to make sure that they could stand on two wheels. Like a legion of fathers before him, Nix felt both a powerful bond and a twinge of separation when he taught his children how to ride a bicycle. The bond came with the generational passing of a skill that is a cherished part of many childhoods. The separation came from watching his children pedal away from him, enjoying true independence for the first time in their young lives. “Riding a bike is a rite of passage,” Nix says. “There are certain life events that change you. Learning to walk is one of those, but most of us don’t remember that. But we remember learning to ride a bike. There’s a feeling of independence. People look at you differently after that. “You want kids to have confidence in you as a parent that you’re able to communicate effectively with them to learn something that (creates) a pretty powerful internal feeling. Because when you see them ride, that is a huge freedom thing.” Nix recently decided to help other children and their parents experience the joy of learning how to ride a bike. He wrote a book titled “Learning to Ride with The Bits,” the bits being nicknames he gave his own children: Tyler, Kyle and Rachel. In the book they are referred to as Little Bit, Big Bit and Tiny Bit. The book was released in February 2007. Three months later, Nix began a side business teaching bike-riding classes with the help of his children—who now range in age from 14 to 11—and his wife, Becky. “I wanted to do something I could do with the family, a business that we could do together,” Nix says. “When we filed (for a business license), the kids were involved in that and understanding what it was. They were involved in the whole editing and processing of the book. They had input in advertising, they help with the classes. “So for me, this is a great enjoyment, to spend time with the family. They’re also learning some pretty valuable skills, so it’s another way for me to teach the kids to do things.” Nix, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, became a bike-riding instructor by accident. The origins date to a moment 11 years ago when his son Tyler, who was 3 at the time, began playing with an old bicycle that did not have any pedals or training wheels on it. “He pushed it around the garage for three months and got to where he could balance really well,” Nix recalls. “I thought, ‘He’s ready to ride.’ When I put the pedals on, he rode it the very first time. “I told that story hundreds of times to friends and family over the years. About five years ago a friend said, ‘That’s such a great story. You should write a book.’ It seemed to be the right time to do it.” Traditionally, most children have ridden bikes equipped with training wheels before attempting to master the two-wheeled variety. Nix, however, says the key to bike riding is learning how to balance, which cannot be accomplished as long as the training wheels are providing extra support. That is why he named his company No Training Wheels LLC. “Most kids are physically able to ride at (age) 3,” Nix says. “The training wheels don’t teach you how to ride. The key is the balance. And if they can walk, then they can balance. It’s not as hard as we’d like to make it.” Nix’s class is divided into four one-hour weekly sessions, and Nix says by the end of the third session more than 95 percent of the children are riding with no difficulty. “I played football through college, and coaches have always been real important to me,” Nix says. “They play a really special part in development. It seems like there are skills that you learn that a good coach can communicate that make it that much better. It’s a life-long thing. “That’s what’s led into this, my innate desire and love to coach. But what I love more is fostering relationships between parents and their kids. If we can teach them how to ride and they feel comfortable that they learned that step, then hopefully they’ll carry that on to other things you can teach them, too.” For details, visit www.notrainingwheels.net.