Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.
Having the ability to ride a bike is a rewarding life skill. While not essential, it brings freedom, joy and lasting benefits in physical health and cognitive development. Knowing how to cycle at an early age also means your children won’t feel left out when their peers start travelling on two wheels, and helps ingrain the essential techniques so they become second nature.
The benefits certainly outweigh the risks, but cycling in public has real dangers that your child must be prepared for – for their safety and your peace of mind. Thousands of cyclists make car accident claims for serious injury each year, and unprompted falls from the bike could cause lasting harm. Follow this guide to ensure your children can be trusted to explore by bike without adult supervision. You might be surprised how quickly the confidence grows!
- Stress the importance of safety gear
Even if their friends tell them it’s uncool to wear it, you must stress the importance of safety gear to your children.
Explain the essential function of a cycling helmet and how it can save lives using online resources such as the Headway ‘Protect Your Melon’ campaign. Discuss wearing appropriate shoes and clothes to ensure control when riding and using lights to alert other road users to your presence. You could recommend knee and elbow pads for children prone to falling off.
- Take off the training wheels
Stabilisers are useful in helping your children master the pedalling action, but ultimately they’re a hindrance to manoeuvring the bike. You must face the challenge of practising with the training wheels off so your children can learn balance and gain more control over speed and turning. This should be attempted between the ages of four and eight when they’ve built up enough coordination and ability to comprehend the task.
Cycling charity Sustrans has a nine-step guide to teaching a child how to ride a bike without stabilisers, summarised below:
- Lower the seat and remove the pedals so your child can scoot themselves along
- Remind them how to use the brakes
- Encourage them to scoot forward ten metres using ‘giant steps’
- Ask them to repeat the process using ‘kangaroo hops’
- Place the pedals back on, one by one
- Demonstrate that the bike is safe by doing a ‘wiggle’ with the brakes on
- Hold your child while they experiment with riding properly for a few metres
- Repeat the previous step but let go quickly and shout ‘stop’ after a few metres
- Hold the handlebars for the initial push off but otherwise let your child take the reins Build up their confidence
Once your child is riding unaided, schedule plenty of practice time so they can develop their skills safely, with a view to them cycling solo from the age of around ten onwards. If you live in a residential area, you can go out in the street during quiet hours, otherwise seek out your local cycle path and push your bikes to the starting point. Family bike rides along quiet trails with adults at the front and back of the party are a fun way to further their skills and confidence.
Key things to develop include:
- Control over the brakes – how to slow down gently and stop suddenly without skidding
- Turning – going round corners, doing a U-turn
- Freewheeling – how to balance and maintain a safe speed when going downhill
- Stamina – increasing the distance your child can comfortably cover in one ride
- Cycling different terrain – learning how to adapt cycling for roads and rough trails
- Passing people – discussing ringing the bell and passing on the right
Once your children are confident in no- or low-traffic areas, you can take them onto quiet roads with excellent visibility where there is little chance of an accident. This enables them to experience what it feels like to be a vehicle on the road and learn vital cycling road safety skills such as signalling, stopping at traffic lights and junctions and going around parked cars.
Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.
