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.
