Finally!

Jalen is FINALLY off his training wheels!!! For about 3 or 4 years now we have been trying to get Jalen to ride his bike without his training wheels. Jalen doesn't have very good motor skills and not a lot of confidence when it comes to physical things. Whenever we would see a little kid riding without their training wheels we would point it out to him and tell him that if they could do it, then he could too.

Last Summer we started to prepare him by putting one wheel up a little higher so the bike was off balance - I think that actually made it worse as he would panic everytime he would go over a bump or down a hill - or even straight on flat ground for that matteras the bike would go off balance. I kept telling him that it would actually be easier to ride his bike without the training wheels as he could go faster and get his balance better. He didn't believe me though!

On the first day of these latest school holidays I just said to Jalen that we were going to go for a bike ride and he was going to get off his training wheels THESE school holidays - it was driving me crazy. We went for a little ride around the streets near our house and he did okay so I said that we would go home and take the training wheels off and try to just ride in the back yard a bit. He said that he would give it a go.

For a few months he has wanted a book called 'Pirateology', so I promised him that once he was off his training wheels we would buy the book. That was all the motivation he needed!

The backyard wasn't so great - it wasn't long enough for him to get enough speed and balance and the long grass didn't help the situation. We decided to go up to the park near our house which has a nice big grass area that was downhill. I was hoping that it would keep him moving enough to get his balance. The first go down the hill he was a champion!!! He went the whole way down but at the end he didn't really know how to stop without falling off, but he was just excited that he rode without the training wheels. We got him to ride down the hill over and over again for about 45 minutes. At the end of it he was very excited and Aaron took him into town straight away so he could buy the book.


The next day we went down to the Seaport which has great tracks to ride on. First of all he tried the flat grassed area but the grass kept slowing him down, so I told him to just go straight onto the concrete paths. Once he was on there he didn't stop!!!


We have since been riding almost every single day during the holidays and for the first time ever Jalen is actually asking us to go bike riding! He no longer falls off to stop! I thought he would be 20 and still on his training wheels!


I keep telling him how proud I am of him and he says 'thanks Mum, I am proud of myself'! He LOVES his new book!