Boy Rides Again
Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
“I bet you can’t run over Dad,” my wife said, sacrificing me.
Earlier in the day, we had taken Thomas to the park to practice riding his bike. It was a beautiful winter day, warm enough that you didn’t need a coat, and since school was out for Christmas break, the park was full of moral support.
“You’ve got this!” said a man walking his dog, as we pleaded with Thomas to try riding his bike one more time. I’m not exactly sure to whom the man was directing his comment, but I appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.
“My helmet is too itchy! This is too hard! I don’t like bikes!” Thomas lamented.
Santa Clause brought Thomas a “big boy” bike with no training wheels, and we thought it would be the centerpiece of his Christmas, but it quickly became the centerpiece of parent-child conflict. Thomas barely showed any interest in the bike, preferring his toy monster trucks and Legos. We had hoped taking him to the park would give him a chance to focus on the bike, but mostly he just wanted to join the other kids on the playground.
“You have to make one loop around the park on your bike before you can go play on the playground,” we said, not realizing that we had just committed ourselves to a thirty minute journey that felt one second short of eternity. So it is no wonder when we got home that day, when my wife desperately challenged Thomas to run me over in the yard, that he finally straddled the seat with a sense of determination on his face–and grinned. At the very least, this was progress. An hour or so earlier at the park, he was kicking the bike in frustration and we were kicking ourselves as parents.
“Just coast down the hill, don’t even try to peddle,” my wife said, giving him a hopeful push. But in his desire to flatten his dear ole Dad, he not only coasted but naturally pedaled to pick up speed. Finally, it clicked. Thomas was not only controlling the direction of his bike but providing locomotion for it. He made it to me, I fell over for dramatic flair, and now he wanted to ride, again and again.
Here is a video of one of his subsequent rides.
Why do high schools and private firms offer Driver's Ed classes? Because family dynamics complicate an already-stressful situation. I'm thinking maybe the time has come for day cares and kindergartens to offer Biker's Ed.
As long as he doesn’t apply the same motivational technique to learning to drive, it’s a win, I’d say. Go Thomas!
When I was his age, we lived on the 14th floor of a 17-storey apartment block. Dad decided the perfect place for me to learn to ride would be down in the undercover car park. So we’re in this dingy space, full of concrete pillars and hard surfaces, and I’m supposed to balance on the new bike while he shoves me and lets go … I think I’m still traumatised. Mum took me to the park and had me roll the bike down a gentle grassy slope. A couple of goes and I had my balance and confidence. Dad was a smart guy, but not really a people person 😊