The best place to teach your child to ride a bicycle is on the street where you yourself learned to ride. That way you will be able to steer him clear of all of the pitfalls that you are already intimately familiar with, such as potholes, water drainage grills, and possible oncoming traffic.
If the road is circular, that will make it easy, because it will give you a bird’s eye view of your child’s progress and what is happening, as opposed to running behind your child, looking at his back, unable to see his face.
First thing you do, is fetch a bike that is small enough so that your child can reach the ground with his feet, while comfortably seated on the bike seat. Your mom will no doubt have one stored in the shed, thoroughly used and scratched up but sturdy and perfectly suited all the same. Make sure the bike is small enough and your child is not having to stretch his legs, barely able to touch the ground with his toe, sliding off to one side of the bike seat with his little butt. Being able to comfortably reach the ground will build confidence.
DO NOT use training wheels. I repeat: Do NOT, in any circumstance, install training wheels onto the bike. This will only promote dependency, and it will be that much harder to remove them, once your child has learned he can lean into the training wheels instead of work on his balance, which is the most important (and hardest) part of learning to ride a bicycle. I also advise against any knee or shoulder pads, but you can decide what is best for your child. In my opinion, a child with knees and shoulder pads does not look like a confident child but rather, one afraid to fall and hurt himself.
When he is ready to go, seated on the bike, one foot on the ground, have him push off the bike, push the pedal down with his other foot and start to move the bike forward. Once he’s got both feet on the pedals and he is moving forward, hold on to the back on the bicycle seat, but only lightly. Do not help your child with his balance, he has to find to the balance on his own.
Walk alongside the bicycle and your child for a few paces, but only a few paces, so that he doesn’t get too used to you being there, or worse, expect you to catch him when he falls.
Let go of the bike, without saying a word. Do not say a word, or your child will surely fall, when he realizes you have left him and he is now on his own.
If the road slopes, and your child starts picking up speed, try not to cringe and yell out warnings, such as:
“Watch out!
Slow down!
Don’t fall!”
This will only scare him. Keep your face relaxed, encouraging, smiling proudly, in case he looks over his shoulder at you.
As he comes around the bend of the circular road, see the look on your child’s face as it changes from fear (she’s let go!) to joy (I’m doing it by myself!) to confidence (I got this!)
When, once your child has reached the third stage of confidence, he falls off bicycle, do not panic. He will fall, at least once. It is inevitable and a crucial part of the learning process.
Do not say things like:
“Oh honey, I’m sorry!”
or “Let me get you a bandaid,”
and certainly not “It’s okay, we’ll try again some other time.”
Don’t ever suggest quitting, because he is surely to take you up on this and he will NEVER try again. This is the most important part: Do not, in any circumstance, let your child quit.
Instead, help him up from the ground, untwist the bicycle from his little leg, and put him back on the bicycle. If his knee is scraped, brush it off and tell him it’s hardly noticeable.
Do not let him quit, even if he cries. Even if he says he doesn’t want to ride his bike. That he doesn’t care if he will never ride a bike. Make him sit back on the bike, and start from the beginning.
One foot on the ground, possibly sobbing lightly to himself, let him get the hang of getting the bike going, pushing the bike pedals down with his little feet. Hold on to the back of the bike seat. Walk alongside your child on the bike for a few paces.
Let. Him. Go.