I'm sure this has been discussed to death here, but there are no stickys or FAQs in this forum so here goes:

What advise can you give in giving my 5 year old girl the confidence to lose the training wheels?

We have had two attemps with complete meltdowns, including me losing my temper.
She is able, I did let go a couple of times and she was doing it until she realized I had let go and then got scared and was unwilling to carry on.
Now she just cries when we try to get going. She keeps asking for the training wheels to go back on.

Advice?

Thanks.

Are the training wheels higher up? If not, keep raising them by 1/8" every time you go out. Soon, she'll realize she doesn't use them.

I'm going through the same thing with my 6 year old. We actually removed the training wheels and the pedals so its almost like a balance bike. We are planning on taking him out again this weekend to see if we can get him to learn to balance first and then riding/pedaling will come naturally. This is how my sister-in-law taught her 4 year old so I'm hoping it will work for me.

Wheels are off the bike entirely. Tried raising the training wheels, but she just fell over trying to rely on them.

Take the training wheels off and also remove the pedals. Lower the seat way down so she can very easily put both feet flat on the ground while seated (borrow a smaller bike if necessary). Then follow these steps:

In an empty, level parking lot (corporate/school lot on weekends, church lot during the week, etc.) have her practice sitting on the seat and just walking the bike along by pushing off with her feet. This is much easier without pedals that could otherwise hit her legs.

Gradually have her practice taking longer steps between putting a foot on the ground. Remind her that if she feels the bike leaning to one side she can steer in that direction to stay up - but that she can also put a foot down anytime she's the least afraid of falling. Don't be concerned about going in any particular direction at first - just on taking longer and longer coasts between steps.

Once she seems comfortable with pushing off and coasting then have her practice going in a straight line to some specific point. Most parking lots have a bit of a slope for drainage and this is often enough to coast at about walking speed - use that to let her coast for longer distances and practice both straight line riding and making a few turns.

Only when she's really comfortable using the bike this way as a 'hobby-horse' should you put the pedals back on. But leave the seat down low so she still has the security of being able to put a foot down if needed. Efficient pedaling can come later. Have her practice starting by pushing off with one foot and then continuing by pedaling.

Finally, start raising the seat up to a more normal level by small steps as she gets more confidence.

In my experience this process takes only about an hour once the child is mature enough to learn balancing and rarely involves even a single fall. It also works well for teaching adults who never learned to ride as children.

+1 Both of my kids were scared to lose the training wheels until I got smart and did this with them. Each of them were up on 2 wheels, pedaling away, within a couple of hours.

Also, if your daughter is not getting the "feel" of balancing yet, I suggest putting her on a Razor-type scooter for a bit. She can get the hang of the balance thing without negotiating a heavy bike.

www.thegyrobike.com -- I don't really know anything about this product, but I saw their banner ad on this page.

My kids learned to ride with a Skuut balance bike and Razor scooters; these are great training aids.

I can vouch for the pedal and training wheel removal and low saddle so their feet touch the ground. They can just scoot and push using their feet to move. They will naturally try to lift their feet of the ground and will try to balance on their own.

If they are scared, just tell them "here, I removed the pedals so you can stand and not fall."

Then you leave them alone on the bike so they can experiment.

I got my son a balance bike so that he won't have this issue. I think modifying your daughter's bike as mentioned above until she learns to balance is a great idea.

^^^That is the coolest pic!

I've suggested that this subject be made a sticky, but only on this kind of post. Since it crops up ad nauseam, it really should be. How does one contact the site administration. I've looked in the FAQ section, but can find no reference.

Re-inventing the (non) training wheel does get a touch tedious.

thanks everyone, i'll give it a shot

Thanks! It's definitely one of my faves.

Training wheels are just a disaster. Can you write a post telling people your experience once you get through?

I have yet to hear from someone that using a Like a Bike, Skuut, or even removed-pedal ordinary bikes that they had the problems that we hear over and over again about training wheels.

Training wheels train nothing. I started my kids with them because I had them when I was a kid. They don't work.

If you can't get your daughter to deal, take the training wheels off and

Training wheels have their place. My son started on his bike before he was two. The training wheels allowed him to focus on the pedaling motion and the brakes.

After many months of him using the training wheels and becoming quite fast we switched him over to a skuut bike. Within a week he was coasting for long distances, steering with no problems.

A week after turning three we removed the training wheels and put him back on the pedal bike. We were at a large, level school parking lot. Within an hour he was starting and stopping on his own, he never crashed. He's been training-wheel free ever since.

Last week we had friends come visit with their four year old. He was very interested in our bike collection (we have ten in the house). The one that was actually his frame size was way too intimidating. So we pulled out my son's first pedal bike, which I believe has ten inch wheels. It was clearly too small for him but he wasn't afraid and really wanted to try it out. A few minutes later we were at the local park pushing him around for a bit. Within an hour he was riding on his own with no fear and no falls.

I think in the end the smaller frame is a whole lot less intimidating for the bigger kids, and it keeps them lower to the ground for better stability. His parents are going to borrow the small bike for a few weeks until he gets really solid on it, then they'll purchase the appropriate size for him.