The way I taught my kids, one at 4 and one at 7, was by taking the pedals off a bmx bike, setting the seat so they could put their feet on the ground and putting them on a GENTLE hill on paved playground, where there was no danger of traffic. I gave them a little push and let them coast down. They'd both ridden scooters, so they had a little technique. When they could make it down the hill, 75 feet or so, I had them do S turns, then turn at the bottom. When they could do that, I put the pedals back on as footrests. Took one about two hours to be riding donuts, the other a couple of days.
Re the "Cowboy Mount" and possible damage...give me a break. That's like worrying that hanging the bike by the front wheel will damage it--it just doesn't happen. I weigh 240 pounds, and I have bikes I've mounted that way for 25 years and ridden thousands of miles. No problems ever.
Last edited by Velo Dog; 08-15-15 at 07:32 PM.