Bike Riding Lessons

For ten years we've lived on a busy street....though we did have a beautiful view.  Anyway, because people flew down our 20mph street at up to 50mph, I never felt comfortable having my kids ride their bikes on it.  Last summer we tried going other places, like a cul-de-sac and a parking lot but they didn't quite catch on.

This year, however, they've got it! At the beginning of the summer, my friend Fonda helped Max out by meeting us to with her son, who was also learning to ride, at a parking lot where we practiced for over an hour.  Later, Elise and Max and I went together to the church parking lot to practice for 15 minutes every day as part of our Hour of Power.

Toward the end we started bringing our friend and neighbor, Ben, to learn too.  And had both Elise's friend Kennedy and Max's friend Danny along as well.
Danny was the only really, really skilled rider.  He was popping wheelies and riding with no handlebars, etc. but instead of it being like he was showing off, he was just showing how fun bike riding can be - like "you can do this! And when you get better, look at the fun things you can do!"  It was great for all to have that kind of encouragement of competition or whatever you'd like to call it. 

Now if they can ride down a steep hill without crashing, they'll get a prize AND the satisfaction of being able to ride a bicycle for fun.