Teaching a 6 Year Old to Ride a Bike

YES!! Got my 5 yr old son to ride about 2 months ago and he wasn't all that willing! Start her off on the grass, holding on to the back of her seat. It took my son a few times like that and gently letting go. He got it w/in about 30 minutes. Good luck and have fun!

I haven't tried it but someone told me that when their kid was learning to ride that they went to a college track, where the "track" was squish so if they fell it wouldn't hurt as much. I don't know first off how you get in to use a track (especially with a bike) which i am assuming is build for almost professional level running. Or if it would really provide taht much cushion. But maybe Just the thought of it would help her over come the fear.

yeah, get her a balance bike. Training wheels do not teach balance. My son learned early. Not only did he learn from the balance bike but I also rode him around on a tandem bike.

Take off the training wheels AND the pedals. She'll then have her feet to go and to keep from falling over and will have an easier time learning to balance. Once she seems to have the balance part down, put the pedals back on. That's how my husband and my SIL learned to ride a bike.

for my son i used a real small bike was easy for him to drop his foot an smaller fall..with in that afternoon was riding

Does your son ride without training wheels ? (I assume, yes) Is there anything wrong with allowing her to use the training wheels until she sets the challenge for herself to be like her big brother and give them up ? It would be a whole lot less fight. (And for the past TWO summers? Did you really start pushing her to ride on two wheels at age 4 ??? What ever happened to allowing your child to BE a child for a while and to grow up at her own pace, not become a teenager overnight?)

If you MUST push her into panic so she learns to accomplish something she doesn't want to do, the best method is to leave one as it is, and shorten the other about an inch. When she tips to the shorter side, the training wheel will stop her, but there will be a bit of time in there where she will learn to lean back to the middle. She'll basically be riding on 3 wheels instead of 4. You can then raise the other training wheel about an inch. It will be there to catch her, but when she rides upright, she'll already be on only two wheels.

The best way I've seen kids learn, however, is to have them on really small bikes while learning -- bikes that are actually too short for them. From there, they can pop legs out to keep themselves from falling, they are closer to the ground, and they feel safer. It's kind of like the difference (for you) between sitting on a Shetland pony or sitting on a Clydesdale. On the former, you could drag your feet, or stand up and the pony could walk out from under you. On the latter, you are WAY UP HIGH and are in many ways at the mercy of the massive beast below you. (yeah, I know, the beast would probably be a trained one, but even then, you only have as much control over a horse as the horse is trained and willing to give you. It is the stronger animal). So, if you have a small bike she rode when she was littler, let her try on that one. Or, play with the training wheels a bit . . . but remember that her fear is real, just like sitting on an elephant. Your goal is not to scare the bejeebers out of her, but to help her accomplish something. So don't push. Help her to build her confidence, help HER to win. It's not your game, it's hers.

(Also to consider: do you let your kids ride on the lawn? Ours don't, but the lawn is a much more forgiving surface to fall on than the driveway)

don't get yourself and her stressed. she will do it on her time her terms. my older one was 9 almost 10 when one night she came to us and said "take off my training wheels". she spent the better part of two hours falling off and riding into the neighbors brick wall. she refused to go in til she rode and she did. my husband and i took off thre training wheels multiple times before making ourselves nuts trying to get her to do it. It will happen give her time.

I agree with the previous post that said don't push her if she is afraid. But if she sees others doing it and wants to, try this. Take the pedals (and the training wheels) off her bike. She will just scoot around with her feet and she will start taking them off the ground little by little as she is comfortable and then she will be balancing. We did this with my son and when he could comfortably ride the length of the driveway (ours had an ever so slight incline down to the garage so it was perfect) we put the pedals back on. It took a couple weeks. Yes they sell special bikes without pedals for this (balance bikes). But this accompishes the same thing and it really really works. (PS: The grass is softer to fall on but much harder to get pedaling on so that doesn't work too well).

While I don't have any advice, know that you are not alone. We have the same issue with our son. Our 4 year old daughter is going to be riding before him...

Here is an easy way to teach her to ride. My son learned in one session this way-after weeks of trying to teach him the traditional way:

You find a grassy hill with a very small slope. First send her down with feet out to the sides. This will give her the hang of how to balance on the bike. I would then try it on maybe a little steeper grassy hill. Once she can do this well go to the small hill and have her use her feet to pedal. From there you can head to the sidewalk and she should have the hang of it-or be close.

The grass is key because it will make any falls easier.

Good luck! I will say if you feel she really doesn't want to do it you should table it for a while. I know plenty of kids who didn't learn until second grade. She will eventually do this-don't worry.

I had the same problem with my daughter. We found a "handle" at Walmart that attaches to the back wheel of the bike & it worked wonders! Literally, within 1 hour, my daughter was riding with no assistance. It allows you to have better control than just holding the seat, and the child has no idea when you have let go, because you are behind them. It only cost $15, and it was sold where the bikes are.

I agree with many of the other posts. Don't push and she will just do it or at least initiate the process (aka "mom - please take off my training wheels). My 6 yr old son is still using them...but I can tell that he will be losing them sometime this summer.

Best of luck and enjoy the process : )

My dad took me to the top of a little hill and let me go. I was riding in no time. That however didn't work for our son. We just had to keep showing him what to do and let him go. He couldn't do it while we were watching, so we let him try on his own. (Of course we were peeking out the window!!) After a while he got in while in a field behind our parents house. Now we can hardly get him off his bike. My daughter still has training wheels, but hopefully we can work on that this summer with her. :) I think I may use some of these wonderful tips from the others!! :)

HI S.!
I got two really good pieces of advice from my neighbor and it really helped me teach my little girl. First, she told me to teach her on the bike that she's outgrowing without the training wheels. Her old bike is so close to the ground that each time that she felt like she was about to fall, she could easily put her feet on the ground. Next, she told me to teach her on a blacktop area like a parking lot thay way she didn't have to concentrate on staying within the boundaries of a sidewalk. Both of these worked for us and I hope they'll work for you!
Take care.

Hi S.,
I thought my my son was the only one. We had younger kids across the street riding and my son was 8 and could not ride. We finally stopped trying to teach him and left the bicycle in the garage.When his friends all wanted to ride he felt left out and in one days time taught himself I think he was closer to 10.Now he rides all the time.
Some kids have a terrible fear of falling so they sruggle with the balance.Just be patient and wait till she wants it so badly,she may just do it herself without you watching the first time.
Good Luck,

When we taught our 3 children to ride a bike, we let them ride in the grass first. This way, it kept them from building up too much speed, and if they fell, it was pretty much pain free! Hope this helps!

I had the same situation-my daughter really wanted to learn and I worked with her sporadically one summer (we were moving, and in temporary housing for a while between houses, and there wasn't a lot of consistent time) and a lot more the next summer and she was still afraid. Finally, her dad took her out and in an hour he had her doing it. I couldn't believe it and demanded that he tell me what he did. He said, "She was afraid to fall, so I taught her how to fall and then she wasn't afraid". Amazing. Still not sure exactly how he did that, but basically he just coached her through how to get herself on the grass and fall safely if she felt out of control. She was racing around within days and has never looked back. Good luck!

Can your older son ride without the training wheels? If so, I would see if he can teach her. Might sound crazy, but I remember my parents trying and trying to teach me all summer long, my big brother taught me in like 15 minutes... Make sure she has her helmet and elbow/knee pads (if she is afraid of falling that may ease her mind.)

As a child I had the same problem. I finally learned to ride a bike in 2nd grade. My neighbor taught me with these steps. maybe they will work for you.

1.Learn to balance first. Sit on bike and bend knees so feet are off the ground and calfs are parallel to the ground. Once your daughter can balance like this for several seconds at a time move on to the next step.

2. Push off the ground with feet and lift legs so they are in the same position as in step 1. This way she will be moving across the road with legs up but not pedaling. Once she can balance and stride like this comfortably move on to step 3.

3. Do step 2 and now when striding move feet onto pedals and start pedaling. Once she does this comfortably, she will be riding a bike.

You can give her knee and elbow pads in addition to her bike helmet and tell her that if she falls this will prevent her from injury. This may make her less afraid.

Good luck!! I hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. Let me know what happens.

I like Barbi's advice -- this was how I learned how to ride without my training wheels, and I was six at the time (I also agree - it may have been too soon to start earlier, but perhaps she wanted to be like her older brother!). Anyway, once I was able to balance in the middle without leaning on either side's training wheel, my dad took off one of the training wheels. So then I only had to worry about falling if I tipped over to one side, and I quickly learned how to put my foot down if that happened. I think it took less than a week of going back and forth on our big deck until I finally figured it out. And I didn't move up to a bigger bike for at least another year after that.

Good luck!

I agree with previous posts...........let her ride in the grass, smaller bike AND load her up with protective gear (helmet, elbow/knee pads and wrist guards) so she feels protected while learning how to ride her "big girl" bike. This definitely helped with my 2 older boys when they were learning how to ride a 2 wheeler. Good luck!