How old was your child when s/he learned to ride a bike? And by ride a bike I mean pedal by themselves without your help.

I have tried over and over and over to help Aaron pedal and he just doesn't get it. I've tried left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot (he knows left from right). I've tried having him push off. I've tried starting him out with his feet on the pedals to get the feel of it and he takes his feet off right away.

Any tips?

Well Alyssa's still has trainging wheels but she can ride it. She has been for about a year now. so I voted 3.

Alyssa just jumped on and did it. I think what helped her was seeing her older brother do it and DH and I. She got a kick out of that. Of course she actually could pedal before that because she did it on her trike.

I said 3 too - Caroline got a bike for Easter (3 years, 4 months). She actually got the hang of pedaling somewhere between 2 and 3, I think. :scratch:

Looking for tips too. I'm in the same boat as you Lynn, exactly. Alex will not pedal, won't even try to pedal and tells me that he will pedal when he grows up. But he will pedal at preschool, but I've never seen it! :lol:

Well we never tried to get her to ride a bike until her 4th birthday. :dunno: So I guess 4.

Melayna sometimes gets on Micayla's bike and she's marginal at pedalling. She'll be 3 next month.

Riley can ride a bike--she's 2.5. Not sure if it was something she picked up from school, though. My mom taped some wooden blocks to Riley['s bike so she could reach them.

Aidan and Colin were both 2. We are thinking of taking Aidan's training wheels off now - so a few months shy of 5.

Alex refuses to use the pedals on his bike.....and he can totally reach them! :dunno: We're still waiting....and hoping he gets inspired sometime this summer. :aok:

Jackson (2.5) can't pedal either...he gets really mad that he can't too...I've tried to teach him, but nothing seems to have clicked yet.

I voted 3, although all 4 kids have been different.

Lily could ride a bike by herself by 2. Liam by 2.5/3. Austin was about 4. Isabella is already riding one at 18 mos.

My son will be 5 in a few weeks. He pretty much refused to use pedals on either his trike or the bike we got him last summer (for his 4th birthday). He thought he could get around quicker just pushing with his feet on the ground. He just coudn't get the hang of pedaling. It was pretty frustrating. But when we got the bike out this spring, he just started using the pedals without any proding from us, and now he can get around pretty well. He is still learning how to brake by pedaling backwards though (because on his trike nothing happened when he pedaled backwards).


Audrey

Aden just turned 4 and pretty much refuses to use the pedals on anything - bike, trike, big wheel :rolleyes: I've tried to teach him and he's just not interested and would much rather use his feet.

Evan turned 2 in March and got a bike for his birthday and the other day he was using the pedals and I made a big deal out of it, in hopes of getting Aden on board, but no dice.

My first daughter rode probably at 3, but my second daughter picked it up faster watching the oldest, so she just started at 2 1/2 acouple of weeks ago. I voted 2.

Brookelyn started at 2. Last September we bought her a trike for her birthday and she got on and pedaled right away. She still struggles going up hills, but who doesn't? lol;)

Anna learned to pedal when she was 2.5. :) I tried and tried to teach her, but in the end, she just figured it out one day. I think it's something that just clicks for them and then they're off.

I put 4. He had a bike at age 3 and could pedal it but didn't really like it very much and got very frustrated. Now he's zipping around (sort of) but he has training wheels.

I don't call it pedalling to him. I call it "moving your legs." I say "keep moving your legs; you won't go anywhere if you're not moving your legs."

He uses the "crashing into the boards" method of stopping, like I use when I'm on ice skates. :) Or he stops pedalling and slows down to nothing.

I voted 3, but that is incorrect. Aidan learned how to pedal his tricycle at age 2, but got a bike w/ training wheels at age 3. The twins can pedal their bikes (a tricycle & a mini-big wheel) and just learned this summer at 2.5.

Matthew was 2. He caught on really quickly and can ride really fast now. I'm not sure how long it will be before he can go w/o training wheels though.

I heard that you shouldn't even attempt to go without training wheels until they are at least 6 - earlier than that their brains don't have the concept of how to balance using their center of gravity or whatever. (like they can manage walking, but the altered position of sitting on a bike and still trying to keep it upright is more than they can manage, kwim?)

I heard that you shouldn't even attempt to go without training wheels until they are at least 6 - earlier than that their brains don't have the concept of how to balance using their center of gravity or whatever. (like they can manage walking, but the altered position of sitting on a bike and still trying to keep it upright is more than they can manage, kwim?)

I dont know. I never had training wheels on my bike. I got it for Christmas, 2 days after I turned 5 and I learned how to ride it that spring the old fashioned way....with my dad running behind me and letting go.

Yumi only got a bike at the age of 4.5 and then caughton right away. At the age of 7 we took off his training wheels and he is doing a great job on his own since.
Shoham got her first bike 2 months ago. She still doesn't know how to pedal on her own and I am in no state to teach her right now .... so she still doesn't know how to.

I'd say both my boys figured out how to ride a bike around 2.5-3yrs.

None of my kids ever had trouble with pedalling, they were all riding bikes/trikes by 2. We took Emily's training wheels off at 5, Harry's are still on but he doesn't ride his bike much these days, he's all about the scooter.