Did your son want the training wheels off? Our 6 year old decided in May that he wanted to ride with them off. My husband held him up for just a bit and off he went. Our daughter did it when she was 5. It is something they have to want, not us want them too -otherwise they won't have the courage. Good luck!

Is there an older brother or sister (or even an older neighborhood child)that could help? My dd (12) taught all of the kids in our cul-de-sac how to ride as they got old enough to learn. She was about 7 or so at the time. It was amazing how much patience she showed while teaching them. I think it worked out so well because she wasn't worrying with parents pride and worries like us adults do. Maybe she can teach all of them to drive when the time comes.

I'd say wait until he asks you to take them off, that's what we did with our older 2 DS. The oldest was 5 and took right off, and #2 just asked last week at age 6 3/4, and he took right off. Every kid is different and has different comfort levels.

Don't let his age worry you - he will eventually do it! I' didn't have to teach them, mine just took right off. Also, if the training wheels are rather loose, the kid has to balance. DS #2's training wheels have been loose for a year & he's was really balancing without knowing it!

Seriously caution them about riding through and in any intersections. We lost a grandson because he whizzed through an intersection without looking. when my neice's children were getting old enough to play outside without supervison, she had trouble getting the boy to look before he crossed the street. One day when she was scolding him and telling him again how to cross the streetand he was very annoyed at her the way kids get. She saw a bug nearby in the street, she drug him over to the bug, made him watch as she smashed it with her foot. She explained that is what will happen to you if a car hits you. She didn't ever see him cross the street after that without looking, he understood that message.

I had forgotten about this post (the board moves so slowly I rarely come here). But, he's now riding very nicely.

Not sure why you would think I would be worried about his age... Sorry if I gave that indication. He asked for them to be taken off, so we did.

Thanks for the actual pieces of advice - it really did help to have an older neighbor (age 9) coach him and encourage him.

In case anyone is reading this that's going through the same thing, a tip that a neighbor gave me was to have him start on grass at the top of a slight incline. Falling hurts a lot less on grass and if you're on an incline it's a little easier to pedal on the grass. That worked like a charm.

AM

Is he being pushed to learn. If he doesn't learn, he is not ready. When he wants it bad enough he will do it.

I've never tried this but a friend of ours has 5 kids. The 1st learned to ride at 5, 2nd at 4-1/2, 3rd at 3-1/2 & get this 4th at 2-1/2. I have a daughter the same age of her 4th child who was just mastering her tricyle this Summer at age 4. Had I not seen it for myself at a block party I would not have believed it. She said she was told that if you never use the training wheels & you remove the pedals that they learn to coast while pushing themselves Fred Flintstone style & eventually balance themselves. I've actually heard that training wheels delay the learning of riding a bike. I am going to try this method next yr on my daughter who will then be 4. I personally think this yr was too early for her.

Michie

Well, I was almost 9 years old before my parents could afford to buy me a 2-wheeler! This was during the depression!
I finally shamed them into buying me a bike by telling them i'd be riding my tricycle to high school if they didn't soon buy one for me!
It didn't take me long to learn how to ride it. and training wheels hadn't even been thought of!
We lived in town, with sidewalks!
And then, i learned another lesson! My Dad had scrimped on his lunch money to afford to buy the used bike! I had got into the habit of parking the bike beside the front porch steps when i came in for lunch!
Mother told me many times not to leave it there, but i knew better!
One day, after lunch, i went outside to get the bike out and---gonzo! Ohhh! I looked all around,but---GONZO!!
And when i went back in and told Mother, all i got was a stony look, and the instructions to go buy my own bike if i wanted one! And, i didn't get an allowance--and, i didn't get another bike!
And now, folks set perfectly good bikes out for the garbage man to haul away! They usually have a flat rear tire, or chain problems. I gather them up for our church, which collects bikes for shipment to other, poorer countries!
by: Rustyj

I had to share "our" bike with two other sisters, you can imagine how that went. We were assigned days we could ride. I didn't matter much, it was much bigger than I was, so wasn't much fun.

I forget who it was who said it----Arabella, maybe. Riding on the grass going down a slight incline was the suggestion, and it's how I learned when I was 8. I figured if I could learn, anyone could learn! This was the method I used to teach my children. My son, when he was 5 or so, didn't really like this method----grass was harder to get the bike moving on than on a smooth surface. He knew how to ride by 61/2 and he was highly motivated----a little girl who lives around the corner from us and was in his class had learned----and this was killing him!
My daughter , on the other hand, is extremely cautious. I tried the on-the-grass method with her----no avail. I've been working on this for two years now, and don't seem to be getting anywhere. Oh, she's managed to stay balanced briefly, but then she goes and brakes suddenly. She's 8 now. She really doesn't seem to want to learn. The fact that most (if not all) of her classmates can ride doesn't seem to phase her. I know it really bothered me when I was the only one I knew who couldn't ride.
So I'll echo ArabellaMiller-----any ideas? By the way, congratulations, Arabella, on your son learning to ride!