A two wheeler is a bike with two wheels, foot brakes and no training wheels.  Bring your child to a place where they can experiment with the bike and feel safe.  Do not hold your child on the bike. Remember they already know about balance because they have used the balance bike for a few months now.  If you start to hold them, they will lose the sensation and you will have to break your back holding them.

 Your child may not know how to start so you need to get them going buy supporting them under both armpits or on the small of their back.  With practice they will get it and you won’t have to do this very often.  Find a slight downhill for them so that peddling is effortless at first.

Also, your child will stop for the first while using their feet since they did that using the balance bike. Encourage practicing with pedal braking on a flat surface.  After a while they will only use the pedals and you can have them wear normal shoes again.

Once your child is comfortable peddling, and breaking you can have them go on longer outings with more difficult terrain.  The first time they encounter an uphill teach them about standing up to get more power or getting off and walking the bike up.  When they bike on gravel for the first time, explain that they need to power through it or they may skid or not be able to start again.

You need to teach every step of the way, each time they encounter a new ‘problem’.

Now you are ready to go on your first bike tour with your child.

Heidi

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