Sarah Bikes

Sarah had a bike in Portland but we didn't progress to removing the training wheels. During our stay here in England, we haven't advanced on this. I didn't buy Sarah a bigger bike here because I wasn't sure she'd use it much, and we don't have a good place to put it.

But we were able to borrow one last weekend. One of Sarah's best mates lives around the corner from us, and we're good friends with the family. Recently I suggested to John that perhaps Sarah could borrow Elliot's bike on a weekend, and so Sunday afternoon we walked to the nearby golf course/commons and found a nice area of gently sloping lawn.

I'd always thought that teaching your child to ride a bike would be a momentous father-child moment, where your directions and advice are faithfully taken, your child beams in appreciation, and choirs of angels sing in the background. But of course it didn't work out that way.

John and I traded off pushing Sarah and letting go to encourage her to coast.



But she wasn't coasting far. She was struggling with her balance, and didn't seem to know how to lean and stay upright. And she also had that combination of being scared but not wanting to show it, to want us to leave her alone, but at the same time to want us to guide her every move the moment she got scared.

And we struggled: how do you teach someone to stay balanced? It's kind of innate. We tried a few techniques but in the end, we just had to keep bringing her to the top of the slope, guiding her for a bit, and seeing what she did afterwards.

Then she got it.



She needs more practice - she's definitely too wobbly to ride on a sidewalk or street - but she's over the hump, and if I had to give a yes or no answer to the question of whether she can ride a bike, it's a definite yes.