Balance Bikes - Brilliant idea.

Just had a great experience with one of these Balance bikes and I'm feeling pretty good about it so thought I'd pass some comments on the experience if you're looking at a bike for your little one and teaching them to ride. The balance bike is about as painless as the experience can get.I've been working from home the past few weeks and my 5 yr old is in a nearby day camp so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get her riding a bike without training wheels. We started with a balance bike.Nono would drop her off at camp in the morning and around 4 pm drive me and the balance bike back down to the school (camp) where he would leave us so I can bring her home on the balance bike. She was fully protected - we had a Disney Princess hardshell helmet, gloves and Knee and Elbow pads so as well. Maybe I was overdoing it a bit but I was on a schedule and didn't want any setbacks something like a scrape or bruise might incur so we went fully geared up. The trip back home is only a few hundred yards but it was painful for the first 2 or 3 days as she got use to balancing and plodded along one step at a time. By the 4th day she'd discovered coasting with her feet up and we made a game of how long she could coast like that and that just drove her to keep challenging herself in pursuit of longer and longer coasts. By the 6th day we weren't going home directly. We were extending the trip so she could explore sloped paths and roads and extend her coast even more. Soon after she'd mastered the thing we actually went on a real bike trip - maybe a mile along the lake front path. It's impressive how fast the kids can get going on these things - In a flat out race of a few hundred yds I would have to be doing more than just a comfortable jog to avoid her pulling away from me. She was flying and loving that thing. The pads and gloves eventually disappeared and I was actually afraid I'd never get her on a pedal bike.Today was our 11th day of Balance Biking. We rode to school this morning for the first time and she was all excited to leave the bike out front of the classroom window where she could watch it and all her friends could see. I picked her up from school and off we went. When we got home though I finally introduced her to her pedal bike. She was reluctant at first without the training wheels but we got the pads and gloves back on her after one or 2 goes to start from a standstill she figured it out and is now riding the pedal bike with complete confidence and control. Tomorrow we head to school in the morning via pedal Bike.I guess I'm relating this story to you folks to highlight that even if you're not a cyclist yourself, the Balance Bike is a no brainer trainer and it's safe. During all of our experience we may have had 2-4 minor mishaps but we didn't have a single scrape or nasty bruise. I suppose I could have accelerated the process as well but why bother? She loved the balance bike and could keep up with anybody. My only timetable goal was a trip we have in Mid August with another family. Their kids are a yr or two older and I would like my daughter to be able to ride with them around the lake and neighborhood. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2eJ8igP