How to make my 8 year old daughter learn riding bicycle, without help of side (supporting) wheels?

40 Comments

1. cheney says:

   April 19, 2010 at 1:14 pm

   She may not be ready and two days is not that long!

   At 8 she is still developing.
   If she has problem such as an ear infection she will have problems balancing.

   However, the most likely answer is that she just isn’t ready yet.
2. wesley_cool12 says:

   April 19, 2010 at 1:14 pm

   8 years old is a little old to be trying to learn how to ride a bike if you would’ve started earlier your child would not have been scared. But u cant go back in time. So you need to build up your child’s self esteem and tell them they can do it. If you have another kid maybe he/she can help your child by them explaining how they did it.
3. Jay P says:

   April 19, 2010 at 1:38 pm

   Unfortunatley, training wheels are not a bad solution. They help learn about the bike, how it works, and begins to develop balance. I think it is a necessary first step.
4. Rose P says:

   April 19, 2010 at 2:23 pm

   She’s old enough to be able to learn. Some suggestions I’ve read about: take off the pedals so she can use her feet to walk the bike around where she wants to go. That gives a child time to get used to the steering, can go slow, start to learn about balance, enjoy the bike with no pressure yet, etc. After a few days or a week, she might ask for the pedals so she can go faster!
5. casual_rider says:

   April 19, 2010 at 2:30 pm

   put your running shoes on and keep doing what you’re doing.
   and when she’s steady and ready. let her go. it’s time consuming and not all that much fun for you but, you are teaching her somehting that she will benefit from, the rest of her life.
   It’s called parenting
   Just Do It.
6. Jo says:

   April 19, 2010 at 3:13 pm

   Ok..let me see if I can explain this.

   Lower the bike seat all the way down so her feet REALLY touch the ground. Let her push herself along, just like if she was in one of those little cars.
   Gradually get her to pick up her feet for a few seconds while she is coasting along. Eventually get her to put her feet on the pedals while she is coasting.
   Remember, keep the seat all the way down so she can touch the ground if she feels the need. Get her balance right first, before she tries to pedal. You can raise the seat gradually as she gets more confident.
7. R F says:

   April 19, 2010 at 3:31 pm

   My daughter learned at 6 in a driveway of an acquaintance. The driveway was sloped, very, very slightly toward the road. We had her take her feet off the pedals at the top and just coast along the driveway. We caught her at the bottom. There was no traffic at all in this area so coasting toward the road was not an issue. Once she could coast, it was only a matter of a day or two before she pedalled off on her own.
8. Chris W says:

   April 19, 2010 at 3:39 pm

   get her in the grass! make sure its not high grass or to hard to ride in. also make sure shes wearing protective equipment as being young her body is still developing and you dont want that to get hurt. get her a helmet atleast and just let her go for maybe a foot or two, without her realising it shes gonna be going for a foot or two without falling off, if you stay close u can catch her incase of falling. after doing this enough u can start to let her go more nd more, say 5 or 6 feet after that shes good to go, as long as she can steer and pedal at the same time she wotn fall and shell be ok, make sure the bike fits her and she can use the brakes when she wants to stop
9. Kainoa says:

   April 19, 2010 at 4:37 pm

   The way I learned to ride was taking my bike to a big grassy field and I just kept at it until I could stay upright for longer and longer periods of time until I finally got it.

   This will ease her fears of falling, no fun falling on asphalt/concrete.
10. Denise h says:

    April 19, 2010 at 5:02 pm

    My daughter was about 5 or 6 when she learned – we had a grassy lawn that sloped down towards the road. Her bike was just the right size where she could reach the ground easily with her feet. She went down the hill too many times to count but each time she got better and more sure of herself. She fell a few times but in the safety of the soft grass! That way she wasn’t scared or hurt to get up and try again within a couple days she was riding like a pro.
    Now she is 10 yrs old and still a pro.
11. Keith J says:

    April 19, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    Explain knee scrapes and head gashes and oh dental finances and I think she’ll do fine. And your welcome!