Stick with balance bike or succumb to pedaled bike with training wheels?

[Anonymous]

We got our 3.5 yo a balance bike for Christmas. She has had middling interest, off and on, but we encourage her to use it a few days a week. She says it is too hard and she is afraid of falling, and prefers to stick to her scooter or pull out her old tricycle. We originally thought the hesitation was just that it was something new and it feels a little weird not to be supported when trying to ride, but after several months of trying to have her get the hang of it, helping her push off, spending time lowering and raising the seat to see if it made a difference, and having her watch videos of kids pushing off and gliding to get how it work, she just doesn’t seem so interested.

Would you continue to keep her giving it a whirl or just get her a traditional bike with training wheels? Everyone we talk to said the balance bikes are the way to go to help kids learn to ride a regular bike the quickest, but that is not working in our case!

[Anonymous]

She's only 3.5. The issue might be that you are pushing her to balance and glide before she is ready. I think most kids that age just sort of walk around with their butts on the seat. The pressure to do it before she is ready may just be turning her off. My kid finally learned to ride a bike without training wheels in a couple of days using a balance bike, but he was like 7. It can take younger kids much longer to develop the skills.

You could try a regular bike, but I would get one from a shop so they can make sure it fits her. And I would let her putt around on it at her own pace and not pressure her to practice or get the training wheels off. When she's ready, you could either try again with a balance bike, or take the pedals off her bike so she learns to glide.

Just don't pressure her. My kid didn't touch a bike for 2 years after DH tried to teach him how to ride it one day. I finally bought a balance bike and bribed him to try it. He got it very quickly, but as I said he was much older at that point.

[Anonymous]

Training wheels are there for a reason and not every kid responds to being thrown off the deep end. Get her a bike with training wheels so she learns how to enjoy riding a bike first.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing wrong with training wheels either. Just give it time and give your kid space. They'll learn in due time.

[Anonymous]

I would let her use her scooter that she likes. It’s not a race.

[Anonymous]

She might find a bike with training wheels just as scary. They are more wobbly. I would stick with the balance bike and just give it time. My kids enjoyed playing with the balance bikes until age 10 when they were literally bent in half, so it’s not like it’s a waste to have it around.

[Anonymous]

Be patient. Mine wasn’t into here until 4.5 though we bought it at 3 and tried to encourage her

[Anonymous]

Mine had no interest in his balance bike at that age. The next summer he was scooting around on it like crazy and transitioned effortlessly to a regular bike with no training wheels before he turned 5.

[Anonymous]

Years ago kids learned to ride just fine without a balance bike . Having said that, your kid is 3. Take a break from the bike and let her use the scooter. Get her a bike when she’s 5 without training wheels and just teach her to ride it.

[Anonymous]

I was also skeptical of the balance bike and had basically given up on it, then a few months after our first "lessons" with it, I suggested taking it out on a walk (figuring I'd wind up carrying it most of the time) and DD took off on it. It was amazing. I don't know if her body/brain just put together the stuff we'd been trying to show her previously, or if nothing we said mattered and she just needed to figure it out on her own, but suddenly it was her favorite thing.

She's now 4.5 and we are thinking about getting a pedal bike with training wheels because she's outgrowing the balance bike. We are honestly not in a hurry either way -- she also loves her scooter. If she weren't getting too tall for the balance bike, I think we'd stick with it for another year even because she's so quick on it.

So I guess my suggestion is to give it a couple months and then pull it out and see if anything has changed. One of the best things about the balance bike is that it is very easy for them to stop on it, which is great for teaching safety in the neighborhood. The coordination of stopping a pedal bike is more complicated and I know it's going to stress me out for a bit once we switch.

[Anonymous]

I think the balance bike fad is really dumb and something that’s become popular because it’s seen as European. American kids used to grow up with training wheels. I think training wheels are great because you immediately get to experience the beauty of a bicycle: speed and actually transporting yourself somewhere faster than you can walk. Balance bikes are awkward and slow compared to a bike with training wheels and just aren’t a lot of fun, as your smart daughter has quickly figured out. If it were so difficult to go from training wheels to a bike generations of kids would never have learned, and yet we all did, with much more enthusiasm than had we all been subjected to balance bikes.

Tl;dr: get her a real bike with training wheels even if you lose cred with the other upper middle class parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the balance bike fad is really dumb and something that’s become popular because it’s seen as European. American kids used to grow up with training wheels. I think training wheels are great because you immediately get to experience the beauty of a bicycle: speed and actually transporting yourself somewhere faster than you can walk. Balance bikes are awkward and slow compared to a bike with training wheels and just aren’t a lot of fun, as your smart daughter has quickly figured out. If it were so difficult to go from training wheels to a bike generations of kids would never have learned, and yet we all did, with much more enthusiasm than had we all been subjected to balance bikes.

Tl;dr: get her a real bike with training wheels even if you lose cred with the other upper middle class parents.

We were given our balance bike as a hand-me-down from friends. Our DD didn't really like the scooter we'd gotten at that point, so we gave it a try. Turns out she loves it and can go plenty fast on it. I think it's a great transitional bike between a tricycle and a regular bike, and there's no question it has improved her balance and gross motor skills. I don't think balance bikes are required, but the idea that they are "dumb" or that people only use them because "it's seen as European" is bizarre. I was not even aware that balance bikes were used in Europe? Are scooters European?

You sound bitter and miserable. No one cares if you use a balance bike or not.

[Anonymous]

She's young yet. I don't necessarily think she'll like a bike with training wheels either. My boys had daredevil personalities when they were little and were both riding bikes by four, but I know a lot of kids who are more cautious who learn at 6 or 7. It's temperament dependent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was also skeptical of the balance bike and had basically given up on it, then a few months after our first "lessons" with it, I suggested taking it out on a walk (figuring I'd wind up carrying it most of the time) and DD took off on it. It was amazing. I don't know if her body/brain just put together the stuff we'd been trying to show her previously, or if nothing we said mattered and she just needed to figure it out on her own, but suddenly it was her favorite thing.

She's now 4.5 and we are thinking about getting a pedal bike with training wheels because she's outgrowing the balance bike. We are honestly not in a hurry either way -- she also loves her scooter. If she weren't getting too tall for the balance bike, I think we'd stick with it for another year even because she's so quick on it.

So I guess my suggestion is to give it a couple months and then pull it out and see if anything has changed. One of the best things about the balance bike is that it is very easy for them to stop on it, which is great for teaching safety in the neighborhood. The coordination of stopping a pedal bike is more complicated and I know it's going to stress me out for a bit once we switch.

If she's great on a balance bike, you may not need the training wheels. Once my kids were super competent on the balance bike they switched over to regular pedal bikes seamlessly -- no learning curve at all. It was like magic. They got on and pedaled off.

[Anonymous]

My kids had zero interest in the balance bike until they got to ride on a slight incline. The momentum made it much more fun.

Transition from balance bike to pedals took all of three minutes (to teach that you push off with one foot on a pedal and one on the ground). PP can call it snobbery, but I spent zero time running alongside holding the back of the seat, so….