I only recently got to know about this ingenious invention called balance bikes when we were hunting for a bicycle for Truett. It’s like a regular bicycle but without training wheels or pedals, which seemed rather bizarre at first but after watching some 20-month-olds with their balance bikes on youtube, I was sold.
When I was growing up, we all did the tricycle and training wheel thing before struggling to keep our balance on a two-wheeler. It was usually a rather unpleasant affair accompanied by lots of falls and tears.
Introducing the balance bike. Kids instinctively know how to propel themselves forward using their legs and they first learn how to balance on a bike without the pedals as a distraction or the training wheels as a crutch. When they’re able to lift their feet off the ground and cruise without falling, they can progress to a regular bike all on their own.
Last weekend, we picked up a Kettler Sprint balance bike for Tru in princess pink and he’s been bugging us to let him ride it everyday since. Why pink, you ask? Because real men rock pink and we got it at a really good price. Mostly the second one. Also, I like my boy to be comfortable with his feminine side.
Unless he gets way too comfortable then we’ll make him do manly grunts while rolling around in the mud. That’ll up his masculine factor just about right.
Baby girl wanted to try the bike so she barter-traded 3 flowers and a hug with her brother for a turn. I usually have to arbitrate the terms of the trade to make sure it’s all fair and square but I’m teaching them the subtle art of negotiation here so I sometimes leave it to them to work it out unless someone (usually Kirsten) gets fleeced then I intervene.
Unfortunately, her legs were way too short to push herself so the husband had to push her around for a ride. A deal is a deal after all.
8 Comments
Oh I love that hot pink balance bike. Too cool. :)
Where did you get yours?
San´s last post ..Baby 2- Decisions- decisions…
I got it from another mom in the singaporemotherhood forums, who apparently got it shipped in from a spree. If you’re looking for one for Jayvon, you can maybe check with the organizer to see if she still has stocks.
http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/581296/4999326.html?1296014678
or the strider looks pretty cool too.
http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/581296/4975736.html?1296055335
Wow…tat’s a great idea to teach balance. I agree with you that guys rock in pink :) I let my 1year old son wear pink…hehe…passerby will exclaim “Your ‘daughter ‘so cute…” -_- Why can’t guy wear pink? So unimaginative…
hahaha pink and green are my fav colour combi together. CUTENESS>
Love the pink bike, we recently bought a Strider and the kids love it. Well, besides the one time that Ally smashed her head into the rails while attempting to go down the slope. Now she knows that she needs to put her feet down instead of in the air like a circus performer
Hi Daphne,
For your next training bike, you might want to consider this model of training bike from this local company Baby a2z, they have a training bike that can be upgrade from “balancing” to “pedal” bike.
This will solve the trouble of less inventory to keep and can last longer for the child.
If need to, i can send u a pic of the bike I have.
[…] been a fan of balance bikes since I found out about them several months ago. We even got Tru a super macho princess pink Kettler balance bike to help him acquire balancing […]
May I know how much u bought it?