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      Are Your Kids Afraid to Bike? Here Are Some Ideas to Get Your Kids from Fearful to Fearless

      Posted by Ashley Howard ·

      Are Your Kids Afraid to Bike? Here Are Some Ideas to Get Your Kids from Fearful to Fearless

      With any kind of new activity, there's always a bit of fear for most children. Learning to ride a bike can be scary. Riding a bike for one child will be terrifying whereas for another they can’t wait to get out there. Have you got a little daredevil on your hands who can’t wait to be on a black diamond? Perhaps your child is more nervous and still has not lifted their feet to test out their balance. If your child is a little apprehensive about learning to ride a bike, here are a few tips and tricks we've tried or heard about from parents trying to help their kids overcome their fear of riding a bike.
       
      1. Be Patient — There’s No Need to Rush!
      There'll be a certain amount of resistance when there's fear. We’re big fans of providing a huge amount of encouragement and letting our kids grow at their own pace. Stay calm so that they'll be able to calm their own nerves, too. We’ve found that our kids want to be biking just like mom and dad, and they seem to always know their own comfort levels. Our job is simply to be there to give them the bike they want to ride when they want to ride it.
       
      2. Strider Bikes
      A strider bike or a balance bike is a great way to introduce biking without the fear of having to lift the feet off the ground. For a child who’s more fearful, this can be a great way to test out the waters. We’ve found that if a pedal bike is nearby, children will let you know when they want to try it out. Until then, a balance or strider bike is a great way for them to get more comfortable with biking.
       
      3. Keep Your Fears to Yourself
      As a parent, you go out of your way to protect your child. You may be aware of all the falls and scrapes that could happen, but the trick is to not let your child fixate on these things that could happen. Biking is tons of fun! When a child is focused on the fun they’re having, it’s easy to forget all the “what if” injuries.
       
      4. Let Them Know That Failure Is OK
      If your child's learning to ride on a balance bike, let them practice falling over on a soft spot. If you have a tumble yourself, show them your scrape or bruise. Explain that it was sore for a bit, but that it’ll be ok, and you learned a lot from your fall. Regardless of falling, you’re still excited to get back on the trail and try again. A little bit of slapstick humour can go a long way. Making a little fall seem kind of funny can sometimes help that fear your child is feeling.
       
      5. Provide an Example
      Get on your bike and pedal around slowly. Let them see how you move and how the bike moves. Point out to them that this is NOT how you biked when you first learned. Share some funny stories about when you learned to ride. Get your child laughing with you about some of your more hilarious biking moments as a kid, or even as an adult! After all, we’re all still learning to ride a bike.
       
      6. Positive Reinforcement
      When your child gets on a bike, cheer! When they balance around the yard for the first time, cheer! When they get on a kid's bike seat and grab hold for the first time, cheer! Let them know how impressed you are with their bravery.
       
      7. Introduce Your Child to Mac Ride
      Being with mom or dad on their bike, nestled in their arms and chatting together can be an excellent development stage for children who are apprehensive about their own bikes. You can share what it’s like to go around corners, help them build confidence with holding onto your bars, and all that important (and fun!) stuff. Truthfully, we most often hear about children begging to zoom about on Mac Ride, faster and more often. We’ve had a few families let us know that the Mac Ride was the right step for their child who was feeling anxious about biking. It eased them into wanting to do more themselves.
       
      We've found that with patience and time, our children can overcome this fear and be even more fearless than we are sometimes. There are some great links for reading about runner bikes, comparing them to training wheels, and also on pedal bikes for young kids. If you're ready to get your toddler a Mac Ride bike seat, check out our selection online. Start the conversation with them now to see how they feel about getting on a bike for the first time.
      Image Source: getoutthereaustralia Instagram

      Why Kids Need to Learn How to Ride a Bike

      Posted by Ashley Howard ·

      child bike seat

      We all want to do the best for our kids. We want to make sure we give them the tools to lead a happy and healthy life. We want to keep them safe. We want to make lasting memories with them. Learning to ride a bike is one of the things many parents teach their children, and every parent has a different reason and method for how they teach their kid. And there are many reasons to teach a child to ride a bike.


      Here are five we think resonate with most parents:


      1. It's Fun

      Sometimes, the reason for doing something is simple: it's fun. Riding a bike is fun. The wind on your face, the world flying by and the feeling of the crisp air in your lungs. There's just something about exploring on a set of wheels powered by your own abilities that we find enjoyable.


      1. Your Kids Develop a Sense of Independence

      Riding a bike can give your child a sense of accomplishment as they achieve new milestones in the sport. As they get older, they can use this bike to go play at the park in the neighbourhood with their friends, or they can peddle to and from school. When they get their first job, a bike may be their method of getting to and from work. A bike is a child's first method of transportation that they feel they own. This can give your child a great sense of independence and responsibility.


      1. There Are Extraordinary Health Benefits

      It's recommended that children aged 5-11 get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity every day. Adequate exercise helps children focus and do better in school. It helps with bone and muscle development and can help children with their self-confidence and mood. Learning to ride a bike is also great for a child’s hand-eye coordination. All in all, riding a bike benefits a child’s physical and mental health and development.


      1. It’s a Sustainable Form of Transportation

      Biking is a great method of transportation. There are many cities in the world where biking to work is far faster than driving due to traffic. Riding a bike to work is not only healthy for the person powering the bike but also for the planet. A bike doesn't require fuel and leaves a much smaller carbon footprint than a car. It requires a certain amount of greenhouse gas to be manufactured and shipped, but at some point, it'll become carbon neutral if you're riding it often. When a child learns to ride a bike, they have the tools early on to choose to use a bike as their method of transportation.


      1. It’s a Great Activity for the Entire Family

      It can be hard to think of activities that the entire family can enjoy. Often times, a family has a few children that are at different ages or levels. Thanks to new and different equipment available for teaching children to ride bikes, even young children can come along for a bike ride on their parent's bike. As a child grows, they can graduate to their own and enjoy family time while exploring the world and staying active. With all the time a child spends around screens and indoors, a family bike ride sounds like a pretty great idea to us.


      Teaching a child to ride a bike can start long before you get them a balance bike. A child can be learning the feeling of a bike before they're the one responsible for powering it forward. That's where Mac Ride comes in. We want to provide a way to get your child outside for a family bike ride before they're able to pedal a bike themselves. They can learn how a bike feels on mountain terrain and dirt roads and can start to observe how to steer and stop. This early familiarity with a bike will help them learn to ride their own bike faster as they get older. A baby bike seat, and later a child bike seat, is the perfect way to introduce biking to small children.


      Ready to give your child a head start at learning to ride a bike? Or are you itching to get out on some family adventures with a child bike seat? Shop Mac Ride here.

       

      Image Source: @prevelobikes