4 year old still can't pedal

[Anonymous]

My just turned 4 year don’t know how paddle a tricycle. He just doesn’t even try to paddle. He would just sit and ride the tricycle with his feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 4yr old still can't get the hang of pedaling He had one of those small radio flyer tricycles that he never was able to use despite us trying to show him. He now is too big for it(even though he is smaller for his age.) He has a balance bike and does okay on but never really did learn to balance/glide on it. What kind of bike do you recommend? He gets frustrated as he sees the other 3/4 yr old racing up down the street on their pedal bikes. My husband gets frustrated trying to teach him as he feels he isn't "trying." I'm unsure of it's a coordination issue/strength issue or he simply doesn't want to put forth effort. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

The easiest way to ride a bike is to start with a balance bike and then, once they can balance and glide, get them on a pedal bike. They start by gliding down hills and pedaling that way rather than starting pedaling from a dead stop.

So I would work on that. There are Youtube videos.

If he really wants to pedal a bike, take him to a bike store and have them properly fit him with a bike. He still may not be able to do it (neither of my kids had the core strength at that age), but that's his best chance. Otherwise he'll just have to wait.

Tell your DH to stop being a jerk about it.

[Anonymous]

Mine started with strider balance bike around 2-3, a year after switched to regular bike and couldn’t pedal. We got another bigger size strider balance bike came pedals and he learned to ride 2 wheel bike in 3 days.

[Anonymous]

I think the big wheel type tricycles might be bigger, and possibly easier to pedal than a conventional tricycle.

This may be a stupid suggestion, but have you had him lay on his back and just pedal his legs in the air to practice the motion?

[Anonymous]

This thread is from 2017; OP's kid is now10 or 11 and probably knows how to pedal by now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is from 2017; OP's kid is now10 or 11 and probably knows how to pedal by now.

I just burst out laughing.

[Anonymous]

Why is this thread going now?

[Anonymous]

My 4 year old also struggled with pedaling until recently(he would pedal backwards, just could not seem to understand it) and what we did was just stop trying with the pedaling - we got him a Woom bike in his correct size so bigger than a little balance bike and then just removed the pedals. He used it as a balance bike and became extremely proficient and fast. Then eventually he asked to try the pedals again. They are really easy to pop on and off, we were really nonchalant, put them on - he tried and again had a hard time, decided he wanted to take them off again. Then a few weeks later he asked again. We popped them on and he was OFF. No joke FLYING on that bike within 5 minutes (no training wheels). He is now one month to 5 years old and he can ride the bike trails with us.

[Anonymous]

Woops just saw this is from 2017!! Guess my tip won't be very helpful for op!!