Balance Bike

This year, my son learned to bike without training wheels (he’s four). And though every parent would love to believe that their kid is a genius, I believe it’s in large part thanks to this Strider bike.

When you think about it, the hardest part of biking is balancing, and that’s why these bikes are great. You don’t even notice that you’re practicing, but each day you lift your feet up a bit longer until one day you’re gliding down entire hills. The transition to pedals is easy because the hard part is done; all you have to do is move your feet.

With training wheels, it looks like you’re biking, but you’re really practicing pedaling. Then one day they come off and you realize you have a whole new, harder skill to learn.

As parents, I think it’s easy to fall into the trap that you’re practicing life, when really you’re practicing something else - like obedience. Following the rules is the easy part. The real question is how do we practice the more difficult skills of independence, self-esteem, tenacity, patience, creativity? And how do we practice them intuitively, so that when our kids enter the real world, all they have to do is start pedaling.