Teaching a small child to ride? - Page 2

"NY Rides" <nyrides@optonline.net> a écrit dans le message de
news:b804b.30070$yg.12318434@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net...
> Here's an interesting predicament.
>
> My neighbor's daughter - I think she's 4 or 5 - got a new bike about a
year
> ago. My neighbors have been trying to teach her to ride, but she just
can't
> seem to get the rythym of pedaling. She seems to be of fairly normal intelligence for her age, but
> she can't get the hang of this one thing.
>

If the bike is small enough, try to lower the seat and remove the pedals (remember that the left
pedal works the "wrong" way). That way, she will sit on the bike and push herself with her feet and
will eventually master the sense of balance.

The traditional trick of pushing the bike and letting the kid ride didn't work with my oldest
daughter, because she was afraid of going fast (i.e. faster than crawling speed). By removing
pedals, she was able to learn to balance at 0.5 to 1 mph in less than 1 week. Then I reinstalled the
pedals and she was able to pedal _very_ slowly, yet still in a straight line, around the block. It
took her a few months to master enough confidence to ride as fast as I am walking, but at least, she
had no problems keeping herself upright and learning rules of the road.

Regards,

Michel Gagnon