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Well done all (especially on surviving a week of camping )

Well, camping might be a bit of a under-statement.Luxury caravan with fitted shower and Sat TV.........!! (I do like "roughing it", but I also like my little luxuries!Now on the hunt for 2 new bikes. Part of the persuasion to get them to ride was when they could they could choose new bikes.........next stop Halfords I think!

Well done and please tell me your secret.Ds now 7 and won't try unless someone holding the bike, unfortunately I'm not able to do that.I need someone fit and with endless patience lol x

This is how I did it, not saying its right or the best way, but it worked with my 6 year old who refused to try.We were on grass, at a campsite, so any falls would not hurt. (wearing cycle helmets anyway)they would both ride a bike with stabilisers, would both ride bike with stabilisers removed but only with me holding on.We rode around for a while with me holding them up. Hand on back of seat, wrist pressing into their bum so they knew I was still there.Slowly, slowly, move your hand up their from the seat and bum position to small of back (then they notice and you have to revert to seat position!) keep doing this and slowly over time move your hand further up their back until you just have a steadying hand on the top of the back nearly at neck height.Then, I changed hands....... "sorry, need to use my other hand"...... which means removing your hand from their back for a second or so.Keep doing this, dragging the time out until they finally ride for about 10ft without you.When they finally shout "where are you", move backwards a few steps so they think they have ridden further on their own than they have.We found using a very slight (I mean VERY slight) downhill slope helped.After a day of riding around we then progressed to setting off on their own, which is quite hard but easily mastered.Its a confidence thing. My oldest only finally tried after her younger sister (5) did it first and she got shamed into trying!Just been on ebay and bought a 4 x bike carrier for the car, hoping to have some nice rides around the local lake and park soon!!Hope this helps! Best of luck.I have to say, probably one of the highlights of the year for me, this was one of the "things" that I just knew I wanted to do and was looking forward to teaching them. Delighted they got it!

A friend of mine taught my AD to ride a bike without stabilizers last week, she had never ridden a bike at all before moving here 3 months ago. Apparently the key is speed - it seems counterintuitive but if you think about it, no one can ride a bike sensibly at very low speeds, balance is better when you go fast!Can't imagine trying to teach two nervous princesses at once, you must be exhausted!!!

Speed helps, but getting them to go fast enough is an issue as they say "too fast", then wobble and fall."I fell off because you were going too fast!".Trying to explain you fell off because you were going too slow is interesting.TBH, a normal walking pace is fast enough.

Ds mastered bike riding this summer. If you google 'how to teach a child to ride a bike' there's a great Youtube video of the technique where you remove the bike pedals. First step, the child pushes himself along, then when confident, they push off and 'glide', then when they are very confident both on the flat and coming down gentle slopes put the pedals back on. We did it in 3 days (ie 3 half hour sessions) and it was brilliant for him, as he is very anxious and could not really trust having me holding on to the bike.

Well done VML3M!

Thanks for the tips.I've tried taking pedals off but no good. LolDue to a disability I can't run, or walk too far, myself. But I can ride a bike so was really keen to get him going on two wheels this summer. Hey ho, we will get there.Well done to all the kiddies riding now, bet they are so proud xx