Monday, December 5, 2011

Teaching Your Kid to Ride a Bike?




Once Santa leaves that new bicycle under the tree (okay, maybe near the tree), someone has to teach the newbie how to ride it. 

Have you ever taught your kid how to ride a bike? 

My husband teaching our son to ride many years ago.

When Steve King's oldest child, Rhett, was not quite five years old, he got a spiffy red bike for Christmas. Steve was excited about teaching his son how to ride his bike. They lived in an apartment complex with a swimming pool in the middle of the complex. Steve realized the pool could pose a problem, but he decided he would steer Rhett away from it.

Steve ran behind Rhett, holding onto the bike. Rhett proved to be a fast learner, so Steve steered Rhett to the right and then let go. Rhett veered to the left and rode along the pool until the bike tipped over and he splashed into the cold water. 

Rhett laughed at first, but when Tammy, his mother, ran outside, he cried when he saw how upset she was that he was swimming fully clothed in the dead of winter. Steve helped Rhett out of the pool and then fished the bike out. 

Later that same day, Steve decided it would be best if Rhett got back up on the horse right away. He convinced his son that something like that wouldn't happen again. After steering Rhett to the right and away from the pool, Rhett turned left again and fell into the pool once more. 

Steve couldn't believe it, and his wife wasn't the least bit amused. Knowing well that with three strikes he'd be out, Steve decided to play it safe and took Rhett up to the high school where his son could learn to perfect his bicycle riding skills. 

Once he got the hang of it, "Rhett was thrilled and smiled from ear to ear," Steve said. 

Good thing we had a school near us when it was 
time for our son to learn to ride!

This little boy is mighty proud of himself for learning to ride his bike.
If you need a pep talk or a little motivational speech to tackle your goals,
you gotta watch this!


So, do you have a parenting or grandparenting story? If you're not a parent, memories from your own childhood count, too!

Warning:  I might feature your story in a future post. 
(Names can be changed to protect the guilty!)
Thanks to all who shared a parenting memory with me last week. I'm saving them and will publish some in future posts.
If you don't want to leave a comment but would rather contact me by email, here's my address: lynkelwoohoo (at) yahoo (dot) com.

A version of this story first appeared in The Highland Community News in June of 1998.

21 comments:

Old Kitty said...

What a lovely story! I've never learned to ride a bike -not for want of trying and many lessons from parents and siblings! Take care
x

Talli Roland said...

That is such a nice story. I used to love bombing around the neighbourhood on my yellow bike.

Bish Denham said...

Sweet pictures! I wrote a couple of posts about when I learned to ride. My sister taught to.

That little kit and the stirring music...too funny!

Paige Kellerman said...

What a cute story, Lyn! Although, falling into the pool all those times made me cringe for him a bit..LOL. My kids are still way too little to ride bikes, but we may be getting trikes on our next birthday. Yay..:)

Stephanie D said...

This triggered the memory of how my older sister taught me how to roller skate. She tied my laces in knots, took me to the end of the blog and left me there to get back on my own. My mom was not happy when she learned that along the way I fell...into a steamy pile of poop.
I am going to let Peanut's father teach her how to ride a bike...and drive a car.
:)

Margo Berendsen said...

I've tried to teach two of my girls to ride, but in the end they taught themselves - "I can do it myself, Mom, just leave me alone!" Oh well!

nutschell said...

great story, Lynn! I think I learned to bike on my own. NOt too hard considering I had training wheels :)

LynNerdKelley said...

Old Kitty - Aw, darn, that's too bad that you didn't get the hang of riding a bike. They can be so much fun.

Talli - I love that term, "bombing around." I haven't heard it before, but it sounds so cool! And a yellow bike! I hope you have a picture of it. I haven't seen too many yellow bikes. Plenty of blue, red, and pink ones!

Bish - I love the posts you write about your childhood experiences, so I'll have to find the one about when you learned to ride your bike!

Paige - Tricycles will be fun for the twins, and then they'll be big enough for bikes before you know it. They grow so darn fast!

LynNerdKelley said...

Stephanie - OMG, that's terrible that your sister did that to you! Sounds just like what an older sibling would do, though! Can't blame your mom for being upset. And a pile of steaming dog doo, that sucks! I'll save this story! Thanks for sharing it.

Margo - Yay for your independent girls! That's great!

Nutschell - Thanks! I can see you learning on your own in a jiff even after the training wheels were removed!

Anonymous said...

What comes to mind was our littlest girl going to the bathroom at Souplantation all by herself. She ran up to our table and exclaimed, "Mom, dad, you have to see my poop. It's enormous!" Then she ran back to the bathroom with such pride. The whole restaurant, including us, burst out laughing.

C D Meetens said...

Oh, bless. Somehow that bike always wants to head for the wrong thing. With me, when I was learning, it was a rose bush. I'd be happily cycling down the road, the stabilisers newly removed, and all the way I'd be straight on the pavement... until that annoying rose bush!

JJ said...

It is still much easier than teaching your wife to drive a car!

Louise Behiel said...

My 18 month old granddaughter loves her grandma's tablet. She especially loves Angry Birds. She knows to use her index finger to pull the sling shot, although sometimes the bird goes backward... And she can't remember not to rest her other palm on the screen.

But the look of pure delight on her face and the shiver of excitement that travels from head to toe when that bird flies makes all the time I spend holding the tablet worth it.

Can you imagine what she'll be doing with technology at 18?

Coleen Patrick said...

Great story! I remember when I started learning I couldn't wait to get home from Kindergarten to try again. It was so exciting!

LynNerdKelley said...

Stephen - OMG, that's a funny parenting story. Good thing you didn't mention her name because if she finds out you told it online, she might never forgive you! And I'll save it for a future post. LOL!

C D - That's just how it is, huh, learning to ride a bike and some stupid thing has to get in the way! Same thing when we learn to drive a car, something has to get in the way, like a brick flower border or a stupid car parked across the street that wasn't supposed to be there when we back out of the driveway!

JJ - I'm betting that your wife has a great sense of humor! Like I said to C D, those stupid objects like other cars have to get in our way!

Louise - That's amazing that she can play that at 18 months old. Mind boggling. Kids these days have completely different lives than we did. That's wonderful that the two of you have so much fun with technology! You're a cool grandma.

MunirGhiasuddin said...

Your son looks adorable. The video is cute too.
My son learned from my husband too. We were not able to take a picture as he fell on his arm and had a fracture. So he learned all over again after his fracture healed.
I used to fall a lot while learning to ride a bike as I used to wear tunics and pants and tunics used to be very long. They were not at all practical.Now I am so glad that we are able to wear things that are practical for sports.

Anonymous said...

Too Funny! It is that rule in the law of nature that if you are really trying to avoid something, you are drawn right towards it!!

Author A.O. Peart said...

OMG, I love this story! Kids are so full of wonder, aren't they? You never know what they will surprise you with :-)

My husband is the one who has been training both kiddos how to ride bikes although my daughter didn’t need too many lessons. She kinda “got it” right away. My son was a different story though.

Marcy said...

One of my clearest childhood memories is of the day my dad took the training wheels off my bike and helped me get going until I got my balance. He and my mom just stood there, watching me ride around the yard. I felt so happy because I felt like I'd made them proud :)

LynNerdKelley said...

Munir - What a shame your son broke his arm while learning to ride. And riding with a tunic. That's a challenge! I remember people would put a rubberband around the bottom of their pants, especially bell bottoms, when riding their bikes so their pants leg wouldn't get caught in the spokes!

Susie - Yep, that's so true!

LynNerdKelley said...

Angela - Yes, kids are so full of wonder! That's why I love 'em. My husband is the one who helped all our kids learn to ride, too.

Marcy - That's neat that you remember learning to ride your bike and how proud you felt. It's a milestone in a kid's life, for sure!