How To Teach A Child To Pedal After Using A Balance Bike
So my son turned 4. He had been riding on his balance bike for 2 years and he had outgrown it. We deliberated on the decision as to whether to get him a pedal bike or a balance bike. Ulitmately we decided on a pedal bike (looking back in hindsight I would’ve gone for another balance bike – but I didn’t know the problems we’d had.
As we’d had a balance bike for such a long time and my son had loved it so much we forgoed the tricycle stage as well as other pedal ride ons. Consequently this meant that he never learned to pedal. I thought it was a skill he would learn quite quickly but alas this wasn’t the case.
My son is quite small for his age and he has really struggled when pedaling on his new bike. He could pedal backwards but struggles to have the power to pedal forwards. I have encouraged him in lots of ways but he asked for his green balance bike back lots of times.
Anyway, so I turn to google for help on teaching a child to pedal and have found quite a bit of advice which I have compiled below. I have tried some of them and we have made some progress but we still aren’t there yet but there are more to try.
Start on A Slight Decine
Tie The Feet To The Pedals
Move their feet round for them on the pedals with your hands
I think this is a good technique to show a child what they have to do but having done it quite a few times, it hasn’t really helped my son pedal on his own. However, it may work for other kids so is worth a try.
Practise with Other Ride Ons
there are lots of ride ons aimed at young preschool kids which have pedals. The other day we went to a play area which had some John Deere tractors with pedals for kids to move around on. My son had a go. Again he was reluctant to use the pedals and wanted me to push him round on it. However, I encouraged him to have a go. We used the tractor on a slight decline and he managed to pedal a couple of times. So I think we are making progress with this one.
You don’t have to buy rides ons specifically to do this. You could borrow a friend’s ride on or go to a friend’s house or a play area which has ride ons with pedals. Or perhaps, buy a cheap second hand ride on if they are more enthusiastic about using a ride on than their bike.