ok, so my daughter is 6, and i just went ount and bought her a new bike. she insisted on trainning wheels, so i had them installed a little high, so that she can learn balance. she is having a hard time of it though. ive tried the time tested method of holding on to the seat while she pedals, and she seems to do ok, but as soon as i let go she goes carreening of to one side and crashes. she just cant seem to get the balance thing yet.
any suggestions on how to help/stimulate/teach her?
thanks

I Would Put The Training Wheels Down For A Week Or So, Then Lift Them In 1/4 Inch Increments Every Other Day Or So......let Her Get The Steering/pedaling Part Down First....and Most Of All, The Confidence

Worked For All Three For Me.....

I have to agree with Bill. She needs to be successful in order to take those next steps. Give her the confidence she needs. I got my twins bikes when they were five. ONe of them did perfectly fine, but the other just couldn't get it. It totally freaked him out when he went careening into a ditch and he didn't want to get back on. A year or two later we decided to get them new bikes, and he didn't want one - unless it had training wheels. Of course, by then he was too big to fit the bikes with training wheels, so I just bought him the biggest one I could find, put the training wheels on and let him go. Within a week, he was doing well and we kept pointing it out to him when he was riding when the training wheels were not touching the ground. Within two weeks we took the training wheels off and he could ride just fine - but of course, the bike was too small!! In the end, it was worth it because it gave him the confidence he needed.

You might try this:

• Take the training wheels and pedals off the bike
• Lower the seat to where she can "scoot" the bike around on flat surfaces or even down VERY small inclines
• Let her get comfortable with scooting and steering
• Then put the pedals and training wheels on but leave the seat down until she feels comfortable riding

See family section, https://www.bikeforums.net/recreational-family/311421-teaching-kids-ride-popular-bf-method.html

Full description of the most efficient and well tested way of teaching kids to ride. Use this with my own kids club and it has yet to fail in 9.5 years of using it - inc. kids with dyspraxia.

A recommendation: Start on grass, not pavement. It doesn't hurt as much when the inevitable crashes occur.

I agree with Ryan with one exception. Throw the training wheels away.

1. Remove the training wheels and pedals.
2. Lower the seat so the kid can scoot along.
3. When the kid demonstrates they can coast for significant distances with their feet up, reinstall the pedals. Throw the training wheels away - all they do is prevent the kid from learning to balance and learning how to turn on a bike.

Incidentally, my triplett grandsons (then 6) all learned to ride last year using that method. I can't say I taught them because I didn't do anything other than provide them with the bikes - and pedal less at that.

+100

She is afraid of falling and getting hurt. Get her knee and elbow pads and tell her they will make her invincible. Have her practice falling pehaps starting on her knees just to see that falling sideways off a bike does not hurt. Over the handlebars hurts, car doors hurt, flying over the hood of a car hurts, falling sideways does not (assuming you are not hit by oncoming traffic).

Consider a mini/stunt/trick/clown bike, I bet she can get on it and ride off almost immediately. After her friends make fun of her she will switch to are real bike. Knee and elbow pads on a pink clown bike, she will never live it down, you need a video camera. Please post pics.

Look it's even pink.
https://cgi.ebay.com/BULLY-MINI-BIKE-...QQcmdZViewItem

NO NO NO.

Do not lie to kids. They have this tendency to either believe or not. If she does believe she will eblieve. She is invincible and that includes darting out in front of cars. On a smaller scale she believes and then does fall and hets hurt. She will know who NOT to trust in the future.

Best description I heard for teaching children/adults to ride in 1 hour (plagiarised from teh interwebz):

Take the training wheels off the bike

Find a gentle grassy slope with a long, flat runout and NO obstacles.

Have the child dress in long clothes and helmet.

Show the child exactly how to use the brakes

Get the child to go up the slope a short way with the bicycle.

Get the child to coast down with both feet dragging for stability and the come to a controlled stop using the brakes.

Repeat until child is confident/impatient to do more.

Now add steering, gentle s bends, still with feet dragging (by this stage they may be picking their feet up anyway) coming to a controlled stop at the bottom.

Get the child to repeat the straight line coast, brake, controlled stop routine but with their feet on the pedals this time.

Repeat the same with turns, i.e., gentle s bends, coasting with feet on the pedals, brake and controlled stop at the bottom.

Finally, add in pedalling, first in a straight line then with gentle turns.

This, in theory, takes less than one hour, won't wear the rider or the parent out and there's no danger of you running into the child from behind when the crash.

Edit: While having the seat low enough that they can put both feet down isn't very efficient you can encourage a better postion on the bike after you've celebrated their accomplishment.

Agreed! And no training wheels! A few falls on grass will get her over the fear of falling. She will learn that she won't fall because she is not afraid to fall. After she gets a good grasp of riding on the grass, take her to the pavement and let her know you are holding her up from the back. Walk beside her and as she gets confidence, take your hand away. She will be riding on her own before she knows it.

I learned to ride before I was 5 - without training wheels - and never regretted it. I had the seat low so that I could scoot but I don't think that lasted too long; it's just too much fun to coast. Dad held on a little as well but when he could let go and I could get around, we put the seat up a bit. Kept doing that until the seat was right and I've never looked back. Well, except for that time when I cornered with the inside pedal down and ended up with part of the street embedded in my leg. It's still there now, 20 years later!.

Four years after I learned to ride I watched Dad teach my sister. He used the same technique and again it worked fine. No training wheels needed.

The only thing I might change when I teach my kids to ride in a few of years (number one is turning two today) is I might remove the pedals. They did get in the way a bit.

I think the important thing is to take it slow though. Just do a little each day and put the bike away. They will soon learn to look forward to it. If you push it for too long, they will resent it.

Have fun!

Maybe I waited too long, but when my daughter was 6 I took the training wheels off, threw them away, put all the pads I could find on her, and let her rip. She learned in about an hour. She was ready. That was two years ago, now I have tired the same thing with my 5 year old (about to turn 6) and it didn't work. She is not ready.

Everything has it's time, it may not be your daughter's time yet.

My daughter learn to ride a "razor" type scooter. Once she could balance that it was a very small step to riding a bike.