Won't try riding w/o training wheels

Avatar for googolplex
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Registered: 03-31-2003
Won't try riding w/o training wheels
3
Fri, 07-21-2006 - 7:05pm

David is 8.5 and cannot ride a bike without training wheels. In fact, he no longer wants to ride at all. He *refuses* to try to learn to ride without the training wheels, but I feel like he really ought to. I'm thinking of bribing him with a Lego set that he wants. I'm not sure how to teach someone how to ride a bike. (I can barely ride one myself, which is one reason I feel so strongly that he learn.) But if he'll make an effort, and get through a certain amount of "lessons", then I'd get him the Lego set.

I'm just afraid that he'll go on about how he'll do a bunch of other things instead. Or worse, he'll go into a big funk about how, "Since I don't WANT to learn to ride a bike without training wheels, that means I CAN'T EVEN TRY, and THAT means I'll NEVER get that Lego set, ever!!! WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Maybe I'm being unfair; maybe he won't say that. But it's exactly the kind of thing he does say.

What do you all think? Bribe? Or just let him be the one 3rd grader with training wheels?

BTW, I don't think his motor control is particularly bad, for an aspie. He does tend to get distracted and not look where he's going, but I don't really think of him as clumsy. (says the woman who can't use hand-signals without falling over, LOL!)

Evelyn

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Fri, 07-21-2006 - 9:07pm

For what it is worth Joshua learned at age 7 how to ride a 2 wheeler. He has a club foot, generalized low muscle tone etc. But with alot of fighting and some tears but lots of work we had gotten it. Sometimes I think it is the willingness of the parent who is willing to say yes you can do it. I saw for Josh the want or urge to keep up was the factor in him learning. Of course wouldn't you know he ended up breaking his right leg(the clubfoot side) trying to go over a curb. We lost the whole summer at that point. But the following year we kind of had to re -learn ands some leariness. But he did it. And now Josh takes his bike all over the neighborhood. He will also use a razor scooter too.

Also my now 7 year old Ethan(NT) learned at age 6 1/2. The funny thing was he was just as hard to teach. But he wasn't listening to me and had flown off his bike once that turned him off for awhile. So we let it go for a little while. Again with him, like with Josh wanting to keep up with his friends, plus the little girl a year younger than him was starting to get it, got him remotivated.
But he wanted to learn and he ended up learning from the bigger kids helping him. They were the ones who trained him. One by letting him use a smaller bicycle than what he was using. Two sometimes peer pressure can be used for good.
I figure by next year my 5 year old will be not too far behind.

I guess my suggestions are
1) use a smaller bicycle
2) enlist the help of an older child maybe a teenager with alot of patience.
3) be willing to fight or more or less decide if this is a battle worth having.
not sure if this is a good one but my feelings at the time was that I never wanted Josh to feel that he should quit things just because they seemed to hard at the time. And that I was willing to fight for him and with him to achieve some of the things that I thought would make him just a little bit more independent, or get he feeling of acheievement.
Rina

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2001
Fri, 07-21-2006 - 9:35pm
How about a little trickery?? I can remember refusign to ride my bike w/o training wheels. I was really afraid. So unebknowst to me my parents bent the training wheels so they werent touching the ground. I had no idea and was riding it own my own for days till they told me!! SOmetimes it is jsut an issue of mind over matter.

 


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Avatar for littleroses
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Sat, 07-22-2006 - 3:45pm

delete




Edited 2/19/2008 1:18 pm ET by littleroses