Toddler Fun: Balance Bike
Sep. 18th, 2008 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutFor what seems like forever (and has been at least weeks), T. has been Perfectly Happy riding up and down the driveway (we have successfully communicated to him how far from the end he has to turn around by) on a Little Tikes ride-on and a tricycle. For his birthday, I got him a Kettler balance bike, which is an extremely short, somewhat long for its height bicycle with no pedals. Think Like a Bike, but without the laminated wood and a whole lot cheaper.
He was interested in riding the bike around the downstairs when his papa first put it together for him, but once it was outdoors, there was Zero Interest.
Then, for reasons best known to him, in the last couple of days, he's been trying it out. Up and down, walking it, basically. And then running it. And then, finally, coasting it while seated, down the driveway.
A little note for anyone buying a house with an active toddler: make sure the driveway slopes _towards_ the house. The house I grew up in sloped towards the street. Bad. Very, very, very bad. As in, we rode our bikes smack into cars on at least a couple of occasions (like, we hit them, not the other way around). I realize there are drainage and flooding issues. Still.
Over the course of a single day, maybe 6 hours total, the kid went from cautiously walking it astride, to coasting it the whole way down the driveway. There's a skinned ankle, and I think he hurt his hand at least once and he's really frickin' cold now. But he's shockingly adept. Go figure. If he'd learn to use pedals (which his tricycle has), he could ride a regular bike almost.
If you've got a toddler who loves the ride-on, think about getting him or her one of these. And maybe get the video camera out at the beginning of the day.
He was interested in riding the bike around the downstairs when his papa first put it together for him, but once it was outdoors, there was Zero Interest.
Then, for reasons best known to him, in the last couple of days, he's been trying it out. Up and down, walking it, basically. And then running it. And then, finally, coasting it while seated, down the driveway.
A little note for anyone buying a house with an active toddler: make sure the driveway slopes _towards_ the house. The house I grew up in sloped towards the street. Bad. Very, very, very bad. As in, we rode our bikes smack into cars on at least a couple of occasions (like, we hit them, not the other way around). I realize there are drainage and flooding issues. Still.
Over the course of a single day, maybe 6 hours total, the kid went from cautiously walking it astride, to coasting it the whole way down the driveway. There's a skinned ankle, and I think he hurt his hand at least once and he's really frickin' cold now. But he's shockingly adept. Go figure. If he'd learn to use pedals (which his tricycle has), he could ride a regular bike almost.
If you've got a toddler who loves the ride-on, think about getting him or her one of these. And maybe get the video camera out at the beginning of the day.