Originally Posted by natbla
I am pro-training wheels simply because the joy of biking is only instilled by the ease of pedaling for the bike.
I think I will have to disagree with that. When I first got a bike, I didn't have training wheels. Facing the challenge was where much of my motivation came from. Every time I could get one more pedal stroke before losing my balance, it felt so amazing, that sense of accomplishment (as stupid as that might sound). That's where my joy of biking was instilled. I think with training wheels I might have gotten bored, and only prolonged the learning. I don't have kids now, but when I do, I'll make them learn the old-fashioned way.