Frustrated that 9y/o can't ride own bike! - Page 3

[libranbutterfly]

My brother is 11 and can not ride a bike. My parents bought him one of those cool trike looking bikes this year after he rode the one they rented from mammoth cave for 3 hours straight. I'll try to find pictures.

[raisinghumans]

Originally Posted by Evan&Anna's_Mom

How is she at other sports? Does she do any other sports? How about during PE at school? I'm wondering if there is any chance that there is a physical explanation for her difficulty? It would be terrible to be frustrated with her (whether she knows or not) when it was really a clue about something else entirely.

I wouldn't say she excels at sports but she is a beautiful swimmer and ice-skater and enjoys playing soccer. She is not athletic and lacks some coordination but I haven't seen any signs to say that there is an underlying issue that should be looked into.

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by SAHDS

I just wanted to touch on what a few other pps have said.

My DS is 8.5 and cannot ride a bicycle even though he's been trying for 3 years. He has been in swimming lessons for 4 years and still cannot swim. He has Dyspraxia.

Just food for thought.

I looked up Dyspraxia because my step son is nearly 12 years old and still cannot ride a bicycle, although he very much wants to. We bought him a scooter which he loves. I read the description of Dyspraxia and it sounds just like him.

[mlsantarem]

Just want to share our experience. My daughter is 11 yo and she can just about ride a bike. Something she learned this year. She is competative horsebackrider, skates, a good swimmer and plays volley. I can´t see it be coordination or something physical. Her younger brother is completely independant on the bike. It just seems like we tried a bit and then we started living in a city where it is very dangerous to ride a bike (sort around the neighborhood) so I didn´t push it and she wasn´t terribly interested (as opposed to her brother and younger sister). But I like to ride and we were given a bike that has a low seat and easy to get on and off. She wasn´t sort of interested, interested in the idea but not actually doing it. We started riding around a lake near our house that has a bike trail and you can rent bikes we rented a double bike and she loved it. She then learned pretty much on her own in the small back space we have. She still prefers the double bike when we go to the lake but thats ok with us for now.

[confustication]

Update on my 7.5 yr old dd

It took a good week and a great deal of encouragement (and pressure, in fact) from us to get her to try the bike without pedals. At first she was pretty resistant, and wanted it to be easy right off the bat, but she did keep trying, and as of last night she's able to balance really well and was jumping up and down for about 30 minutes- so proud of her efforts.

I know there's a lot of 'don't push her' voiced here, but if she's anything like my daughter, sometimes she *needs* the push to know that I believe she can accomplish things that are difficult for her when she doesn't believe she can accomplish them.

At any rate, I told her that if she keeps at the balancing and working with that fora few more days, we'll put the pedals back on for her. Her response was,"Yay, and now I know that if I keep trying I'll get it sometime!"

I'm pleased with her progress- we did have a whole bunch of frustration and occasional tears getting this far, but it's been a huge accomplishment for her. You have to base your choices on knowing your child best.

[alexsam]

So true. Sometimes a little push is good. I just think we (as a parenting culture) often take "push" too far and that is why there is an "ease off" feeling here as it is easy to get carried away.

But you are totally right. You have to know your kid and take each situation as it comes.

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by confustication

At any rate, I told her that if she keeps at the balancing and working with that fora few more days, we'll put the pedals back on for her. Her response was,"Yay, and now I know that if I keep trying I'll get it sometime!"

That's great!

[journeymom]

There have been 'when did your child learn to ride a bike?' threads here before and the impression I got is that there is a wider age range for first time riders than we think. Seriously, I got the impression that nine y.o. is pretty common.

My son didn't learn to ride until he was nine. Dh and I were both embarrassed and figured he should be able to ride sooner. I remembered that I loved riding scooters when I was little, so I got him one. It's a Razor, but the wheels are bigger and the platform is wider than most. It's fun, not alarming. It was just right for him and he loves it.

He and I both have poor muscle tone. Dyspraxia fits us, as well.

Originally Posted by raisinghumans

This is true for my dd as well. If it can't be done perfectly right away she is discouraged and has no interest in trying. Many things at school come so easily for her, it is the physical stuff she doesn't excel at and gets put off by it.

She was also a slow learner at jump rope as well and is now only just getting it.

Then please honor that about her and back off. You sound pretty intense in your first post, which is completely understandable and acceptable. But no doubt she's picking up on it.

I'll be a voice of dissent and say don't insist she 'practice' it every day, or at all, for a while. I hate practicing anything! Nothing like practicing something to take all the fun out of it! Let her come back to it and once she feels better about it then you can intuitively give her the occasional nudge.

[raisinghumans]

UPDATE!

She has got it!:

I had my dh take her out and show her the no pedal thing, we didn't actually take the pedals off but showed her how to sit and just lift her feet off the ground a bit. We actually live on a street with a very slight incline so she went to the top and coasted down the whole street, by herself, right away. This was exciting so she did it a few more times then tried putting her feet on the pedals and coasted, no pedalling. This was fun and before long she was pedalling as she went.

Yay, I am happy for her and she is happy too. Now steering and going up the incline are still to come but I am glad to see her see some progress. She was getting so frustrated by it.

I totally appreciate everyone for the tips, I also respect everyones advice on backing off with her, but honestly I was venting when writing the OP because I didn't want to end up venting with her. It has been hard to stay positive with her when it seemed as though she wasn't really putting in the effort....now I see how much it helped her to break down all the steps, the balance first, then pedalling. Like I already said, the steering and strength are still to come but atleast she has had a small success to start.

And through this I have learned of several other kids who are about her age and still struggle with the bike riding skill...it does always help to know you are not alone or unusual doesn't it.

Thanks again.

[eclipse]

yay!

[reezley]

Originally Posted by raisinghumans

UPDATE!

She has got it!:

I had my dh take her out and show her the no pedal thing, we didn't actually take the pedals off but showed her how to sit and just lift her feet off the ground a bit. We actually live on a street with a very slight incline so she went to the top and coasted down the whole street, by herself, right away. This was exciting so she did it a few more times then tried putting her feet on the pedals and coasted, no pedalling. This was fun and before long she was pedalling as she went.

Ah, my heart did a little joyful flip when I read this! Yay for her!
My ds1 is only 4 but I'm pretty sure he won't be the "first on the block" to ride a bike... Thanks to everyone as well for the advice about the balance bike - it's like a well-kept secret in the US apparently! I'd never heard of it until threads like this.

[journeymom]

Yay, congratulations!

[limabean]

Good for her!