I hope some one can help

deedee0317 · 07-03-2004, 08:49 AM

Hi Everyone

I am fairly new here and I hope some one can

me. I have an 8 year old son who I am trying to teach to ride a bike. He has had a brand new bike for 2 years sitting in the back room. I have tried to get him to ride but he fell and said he does not want to ride it again. I have told him how much fun it is and how all his

will be riding bikes. He does not care I know he can do it . He gets on the bike then when I start to move him he starts to scream and

. I hope someone can

I am ready to tear my hair out

. My husband does not have the patients to do it and he just takes him and pushes him on the bike and Shane my son gets

and

. I just hate to see it and I don' know how to build his confidence to get him back on. If ayone has any suggestions

me.

Thankyou

Countrymama · 07-03-2004, 04:31 PM

Dawn, My dd took a long time to learn to ride also. she was afraid of falling and getting hurt. I wonder if what we did for nikki will

or not but I will tell you it takes a lot of patience. We would have nikki sit on her bike and just try and balance herself it took her a very long time for her to do this as she would tense up and get

(of what I am not quite sure as we were not going to let go of the bike) once she felt comfrotable with that then it came time to walk beside her and not letting go or pushing jsut

ing her to stay upright while she peddled. Another thing that

ed was that she wanted to keep up with her friend here on the farm she didnt like the fact that he was riding without his training wheels and she wasnt. once she did start riding she would only ride in the grass incase she fell. but once she got some confidence in her riding she started riding on the

way.

Also when we first started to teach her we made her sit on bike with her feet on the peddles while we would hold the handlebars (so she could see we wernt going to let go) and to keep her upright. I hope this

s in someway.
Good Luck! Keep us posted.

Kricket · 07-03-2004, 10:06 PM

I wish I could

even though I can't but I can tell you that you are not alone! I've been having the same problem with my 7 year old daughter soon to be 8. She can't ride her bike either and is afraid because she falls. We've been totally frustrated with the whole thing and haven't tried for a month. I don't even know if I plan on trying anymore unless she asks to.

We've tried just about everything...even having her try in the grass to soften her fall but she just can't or won't get it....and we get frustrated with her over it cause we know she can do it.

I'm just going to let her decide when she is ready...that's about all I can do. Good luck!

lulu · 07-05-2004, 10:05 PM

I understand! My middle daughter was terrified of getting hurt too. It took her almost three years to start riding her bike. It will happen when the time is right (which is easy for me to say, and hard for you to have to deal with, I know because I hated it when people said it to me) Starting out in the grass is a really great

. Good luck!

GraspingGrace · 07-05-2004, 10:17 PM

Oh my ... do I remember this!!! Our son was the same way ... he was terrified to do it. I have many video tapes of one of us walking/running him up and down the street holding the bike upright so he wouldn't fall ... all while trying to get the feel of how to balance while steering and peddling. We worked hard to

him.

Lulu is right ... it will happen when the time is right. Here's how my son learned ... his best friend Ryan (he lived two doors down from us) got a bike right after Adam did ... Ryan is a tough kid and falling didn't bother him and he was constantly falling off that bike LOL. Adam saw Ryan riding his bike ... honest to goodness this is how it happened ladies!!!! ... Adam saw Ryan on his bike so Adam just picked up his bike, got on it and peddled off ... never looked back once!!!! He did fall once or twice but it wasn't a serious fall and he didn't even get scratched. He just didn't like his friend knowing how to do it when he couldn't!!!

It really is inside them ... they will do it when they're ready. It's hard to be patient but try

Keep us posted.

deedee0317 · 07-06-2004, 11:05 AM

hello ladies

Thankyou for your posts. I thought I was the only one going through this i know deep down i am not. I have tried the grass he is a little better but when he falls he just runs in the house. I have not tried in a week but I know I have to get back out there. He would rather ride his scooter even when his

are riding bikes. He has fell riding the scooter and got some pretty good scrapes but he gets back on. I told him that it is not much different but still won't listen to me. My neighbor told me to try getting the training wheels back on again and letting him get the balance with those but he is such a big kid that I don't know if I can get training wheels for his bike and slso my DH said flat out NO. I would like to have him riding by the end of the summer I will keep you posted and Good Luck to all of you trying . Thanks again

tesslon · 07-18-2004, 03:09 PM

Dawn: I feel your pain! (ha ha!) My son is 9 and refuses to learn to ride a 2-wheeler. He has never fallen, but still won't do it because of his fears. He will ride a scooter because it's lower to the ground and makes him feel more secure. I'm letting it go until he expresses an interest in learning. Every time we've tried to "force" the issue, he digs his heels in.

The way my sister

ed my niece learn was she started raising the training wheels up higher without her knowledge. Then the wheels only touched the ground when she was starting to learn one way or the other. So her "security blanket" was there, but she wasn't really using them to ride. Eventually, they got high enought that she realized she didn't need them anymore, so she asked to have them taken off. She essentially learned without realizing she was learning.

Good luck to you!