Time for an upgrade

The Tri’s Are Out and the Bi’s Are In

Last week, my husband and I thought it was about time Angus, our son, was ready for a bike, even though he has just turned 2.  With his tricycles, I have noticed that he has now mastered them to a tee and is in need of getting out of his comfort zone again and try something new.

My research on this has taken about 3 months because I don’t have a clue about what type of bike he should use. 

Does it need rubber wheels? What sort of a seat does he need? should we get training wheels? What? The wheels come in all different sizes??? 

Arrgghh, this is going to be a lot harder than I thought.  My idea of going to buy Angus a bike was to go to the bike shop, choose the snazziest colour and then haggle on the price a bit.  No, that would be way too easy, wouldn’t it?

So, at some point I decided not to bother looking anymore.  Then I noticed when Angus and I were taking his tricycle out for a spin on the bike paths that there were other children around his age on these funny looking bikes.  They looked like normal bikes, but there was something different about them, yet I couldn’t figure out what. 

Oh, that’s what it is: they don’t have any pedals!  What!? A bike without pedals. What’s the point? After seeing a few of these bikes without pedals on the bike paths, I decided one day to ask one of the mothers what this was all about.

Balance Bikes

So it turns out that these bikes without pedals are called Balance Bikes.  The idea is for the child to learn to gain good balance on these bikes so that when it comes time for the real thing - with pedals - they’ll be prepared. That way, children move straight to a bicycle without requiring training wheels. Wow!

You could imagine me with my Fitness Trainer cap on . . .  This is the bike for my Angus. It teaches him core strength, stronger balance, blah, blah, blah. 

Now the next thing is to find where to purchase from.  Well, I lost count on how many department stores, bike shops, etc. I went in to, only to be told that they are quite new and not available yet.  Online it is then.  Once I get online to search, they seem to be everywhere in all shapes, designs, materials, colors, prices etc.

To cut a long story short, I ended up purchasing one on line last week, and it just arrived yesterday.  I couldn’t wait to get the little thing together for Angus to have a go. 

Once assembled, I could not contain my excitement.  However, as children are not shy to tell the truth, he did not feel comfortable on the Balance Bike. He said it felt a little unstable. But that’s not going to stop us!  Angus is only going to get bigger and more confident, so in the meantime it will be a little trial every day until he builds up his confidence in his own time to whiz around on the bike, just like he used to do with his tricycle.

We can learn from children how important it is to continue increasing the difficulties and challenges of our movement and to know when it’s time to try something new - and to stick with it even though it’s a little uncomfortable at first.

Maybe this Balance Bike is only new here to Australia and has been around for awhile in other countries.  If you have heard of this bike concept in your country, please share what you know about it and how it works in the comments below.  I would love to hear other people’s views.

As a personal trainer who's always loved her body, Sue Bary was tired of being classified as 'mildly obese' and wanted to help others experience Enjoyable Body Movement without being subject to the usual verbiage of weight loss and dieting. Thus, she created enarji, a personal training practice steeped in the Health at Every Size approach and attitude. To learn more about Sue, click here. Because you are a special More of Me to Love member, Sue wants you to enjoy a FREE consultation through enarji's Virtual Health Coach services. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to schedule your free consultation today!