Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sew my kids clothes. Other people buy cheap stuff at Target. I just love my kids more.

Some of you are really bad at analogies.

You should see how well o can put in a zipper though. Make you cry it’s so beautifully done.

This thread is one of the dumbest I have ever seen.

I posted earlier about my child learning in an hour after we spent a year trying to teach her.

For the record, we paid nothing for this class (it was through WABA) and we actually went on an 8 mile bike ride with our child today (just a few months after she learned to ride from that class.) We have spent many hours biking together for her whole life, but now she gets to ride with us instead of riding on the back of one of our bikes, all thanks to this one class.

Why on earth people come on here to complain about this type of thing is absolutely beyond me.

I taught my daughter at age 6 and there was a lot of crying and frustration, mostly on her part. She did learn it but had some scrapes.

A few years later I volunteered to teach my nephew at about the same age but I took him to a soccer field when nobody was there and when he fell it wasn't so painful as falling on a sidewalk or street, worked much better. Once he got the hang of pedaling and balancing for short distances on the grass we moved on to the asphalt nearby.

Swimming and bike riding are the same. Necessary skills but some kids pick it up some kids don't. I paid someone to teach my oldest child but my youngest learned to ride a bike with no training wheels at age 3. All of my children swim but one is like a fish the other is like a rock.

I don't think it says a lot about society nor would I accuse parents outsourcing basic skills. Cooking could be considered the same. Everyone has to eat yet there are a lot of people who can't cook.

I guess I would say this ---- how do you teach a kid to ride a bike? All the people saying it is so easy what do you do? If you are over 40 and probably under you have no memory of how you learned. We also tried for a good while and it was not taking with the kids. The National parks session was one hour and at the end both kids could ride well. Secret was to remove the pedals. Make them walk it without the pedals and get balance right while gliding without pedals. Put pedals back on and kids could ride bike. Every kid there got it. It took longer to take the pedals off and put them back on than it did to teach them. I certainly would not have thought about doing that. I am sure my parents did not do that. And I am sure my parents did not show me as my mom can't ride a bike and my dad was always at work. I assume I just crashed (I have a memory of this) until I got it.

So no I do not think it is crazy to have a one hour class that works.

None of the kids in our neighborhood seem to ride bikes. My two kids have zero desire to learn but I signed them up for the REI class. Came highly recommended. I really don’t know how to teach them to balance! I’m not great at it myself and don’t own a bike. I’m not sure why that’s sad to you - would you prefer they never learn?

We live on a hill so my kid has limited opportunities to practice riding. She has to go to camp anyways (childcare) so why not go to a camp where she can practice riding with friends? Could I teach her? Yes. But she'll get a ton of practice in during a week long camp so we can then actually spend our time going on bike rides together.

Whatever you do be sure and tie your kid's shoes before you teach them to ride a bike or send them to bike class because when those laces get caught in the chain there will be scars if not broken bones and concussions.

Anonymous wrote:I sew my kids clothes. Other people buy cheap stuff at Target. I just love my kids more.

Some of you are really bad at analogies.

Anonymous wrote:What I don’t get are parents who send their kids to swim classes! Just throw them in the pool and the kids will figure it out.

Right? I mean what’s the worst that could happen?!

Anonymous wrote:It is easier said to be done. I can't swim and I can't bike. DH can swim and bike, and he has been teaching our boy to swim & bike on and off for 2 years plus, and it is going nowhere. Is there learning to bike session in germantown area?

REI does bike riding classes for both kids and adults!

I sew my kids clothes. Other people buy cheap stuff at Target. I just love my kids more.

Autism has run rampant. Lots of kids are on the spectrum. Learning to ride a bike is challenging to them. The classes help. Not all kids end up riding right after the class. It’s a help though. But still requires hours and hours of parental support.

I’ve heard some parents don’t make their own baby food.

I agree with you OP. I like that I have the memory of teaching my kid and she will too. Too many people don’t want to do the hard parts of parenting but it creates special memories. People also seem to have more money now, I mean look at people who pay someone else to pick up dog poop from their yard because they don’t want to do it. It’s crazy.