When you’re trying to teach your kids to ride a bike, this is certainly one of the debates that you may want to have with your partner. How are you going to teach your kids to ride? Most people go from training wheels to the regular bike. That process, in particular, that part about getting on the real bike, cost many little one’s blood sweat and tears. Balance bikes could actually give kids a better progression to ultimately end up riding a regular bike.
Benefits of Training Wheels
One of the main benefits of training wheels is that you’re going to be able to pick up some real speed on the bike. Therefore, you may be able to get a better feel for actual steering at speeds that you may be facing when you get on the real bike. Knowing how to brake properly is going to be an important part of the training process.
If you’re going to go straight to training wheels then you definitely need to go out and buy some kids bike accessories. The helmet is a must. Things like kids’ bike gloves can really come in handy. Even if you’re going to use training wheels the speeds that you can pick up can get real.
Benefits of Balance Bikes
The biggest problem about just going through the training wheels route is that you’re not getting what it’s actually like to balance your body on a bike. Seeing as how, at least at the beginning, most falls come from a lack of balance we think this is pretty significant.
Another one of the critical benefits that you’ll be getting with balance bikes is that you can start your kids really early on these bikes. Some kids begin right around their second birthday. Ideally, you’ll want to make sure that your child can walk well before you get them on one of these bikes.
Some parents, though, actually let them use this bike even as potentially their final baby walker if you will. This allows the kid to feel much more comfortable when they get on a real bike. Since it’s not going to be a completely new experience for them. As it would be if you put a child on a bike with training wheels at 5.
Find What Works For Them
To sit here and say that there are no benefits to one of these options would be completely false. At the end of the day, as a parent, it’s a good idea to sit down and evaluate what stage of the learning process your kid happens to be in. From there, you can decide what type of path may work best for them. Folks have been learning through the training wheels method for years. Balance bikes do add that balance element that is so key. In fact, if you have more kids in the home, you may find that they each need to take their own learning path. Find what you feel is safer and can bring them more long-term benefits.
