Learning to ride a bike

If I'm honest, we aren't the sportiest of families. My husband and I exercise to keep ourselves fit, but when it comes to family sporting activities we don't do a great deal. We tend to stick for walks in the country and along the beach (mainly with the added incentive of hunting for Pokemon or Geocaching).

It's been bothering me for the last couple of years now that Harry couldn't ride a bike without stabilisers. I've had it on my summer activity list for the last two summers, but when it came to it he just wasn't interested in learning, and was quite happy to pootle about on his little toddler bike. A little while ago a friend kindly gave us a bike that her son had grown out of, and it had been waiting in the garage for Harry get around to having a go on it.

Then suddenly towards the end of last week, just as I was about to start making dinner, Harry announced that he wanted to have a go on the bike. It was an inconvenient moment, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity, so we all went out the front of the house, got out the bike, and put Mia on her balance bike to keep her occupied.

He didn't want any help at first but it became apparent that he wasn't sure what to do. I didn't really know how to teach him either, so I did the classic holding on to the back of the saddle, letting him pedal, and then letting go. It took quite a few goes before he got anywhere, but then he suddenly went from one pedal round before he fell of to pedalling up and down the length of the road!

It was amazing quite how quickly he picked it up, and we spent the weekend venturing further afield and making use of the cycle paths around our estate. The bike is too small for him, so we've been looking at buying him a decent bike that will last him for a few years, and then passing this one down to Mia so that she can have a go - I'm hoping that she'll pick it up just as quickly!

I'm so proud of him, he was determined to do it and persevered when he was struggling. I think it's an important life skill, and I'm hoping that if we are able to get us all bikes we can start to enjoy some fun family bike rides!