Montreal is such a bike-friendly city, and we knew early on that we wanted to be a biking family. Because brad and I use Bixi instead of owning our own bikes (we have no place to store them and bike theft is a huge problem in our city, so it made sense for us), we had to wait for our kids to start riding their own bikes to have legit family bike rides. And we're finally there!!
We started each of our kids on balance bikes around age 2, and from there when it came time to teach them to ride a two-wheeler (around age 4) it was such a smooth transition! Both Lily and Oli took about 30 minutes to learn. Training wheels, in my opinion, really slow down this transition because kids have to learn balance at an older age after they've already gotten used to biking without needing any. It's kind of backwards, since pedaling is much easier to grasp than balance. So teach them balance when they're young, and then they'll connect that with pedaling in no time. (The wooden ones are so cute and very light weight, by the way! We got ours HERE.)
Now Lily and Oli are both using the bike lanes and biking confidently on the road and Clover is keeping up in her own right on the sidewalk on her balance bike. I won't lie though - it's still crazy intimidating when I go out biking with all three by myself! It's hard to keep track of everyone and stay close enough to monitor them, while also giving them independence and space.
Even though our neighbourhood is filled with bike lanes, and the cars are used to driving around bikers, and our kids are extremely strong bikers, anything could happen. But I don't think the answer is don't do it. I think in those potentially scary situations, it means proceeding with caution, going alongside our kids, training them again and again and again, and being as safe as we can be. That goes for biking, and just about everything else in this scary world. So much of me wants to keep my kids under my mother hen wings and not let them do hard or dangerous things. There's just so much room for hurt out in the world, isn't there? But I know they're stronger for my letting go. I know that's true of them physically, as they've begun biking, and I hope it's true in every other realm of life, too.
Probably because of the positive bike culture in our area, I've received so much affirmation from passersby when I'm out biking with the kids. Some bikers will ring their bells at the kids, or cheer for them "allez allez allez!", others kindly caution them to stay close to the sidewalk as opposed to the side of the bike lane closest to the cars. I love when the village takes part in protecting and encouraging my kids! One man biked past us the other week and said, "Wow, you're brave, Mom! Look at these kids! They're amazing! Great job!" and I almost cried. It may have had something to do with the fact that I'd just passed by a mother who had her five year old biking a giant tricycle on the sidewalk and gave us a scowl! I so appreciate when people can see you doing something hard and cheer you on instead of being negative. Hard isn't always wrong (nor is easy always right)... more biking wisdom that applies to all of life, haha!
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Anyway, this cute top I'm wearing here is from Pink Blush, which is a women's + maternity line (and all of their clothes work for each season of life). No, I'm not pregnant, so don't even ask, haha! You can see a sun dress of theirs that I wore earlier this summer HERE. Head over to Instagram (@emmorrice) and enter my giveaway to win a $50 store credit for Pink Blush!
We started each of our kids on balance bikes around age 2, and from there when it came time to teach them to ride a two-wheeler (around age 4) it was such a smooth transition! Both Lily and Oli took about 30 minutes to learn. Training wheels, in my opinion, really slow down this transition because kids have to learn balance at an older age after they've already gotten used to biking without needing any. It's kind of backwards, since pedaling is much easier to grasp than balance. So teach them balance when they're young, and then they'll connect that with pedaling in no time. (The wooden ones are so cute and very light weight, by the way! We got ours HERE.)
Even though our neighbourhood is filled with bike lanes, and the cars are used to driving around bikers, and our kids are extremely strong bikers, anything could happen. But I don't think the answer is don't do it. I think in those potentially scary situations, it means proceeding with caution, going alongside our kids, training them again and again and again, and being as safe as we can be. That goes for biking, and just about everything else in this scary world. So much of me wants to keep my kids under my mother hen wings and not let them do hard or dangerous things. There's just so much room for hurt out in the world, isn't there? But I know they're stronger for my letting go. I know that's true of them physically, as they've begun biking, and I hope it's true in every other realm of life, too.
Probably because of the positive bike culture in our area, I've received so much affirmation from passersby when I'm out biking with the kids. Some bikers will ring their bells at the kids, or cheer for them "allez allez allez!", others kindly caution them to stay close to the sidewalk as opposed to the side of the bike lane closest to the cars. I love when the village takes part in protecting and encouraging my kids! One man biked past us the other week and said, "Wow, you're brave, Mom! Look at these kids! They're amazing! Great job!" and I almost cried. It may have had something to do with the fact that I'd just passed by a mother who had her five year old biking a giant tricycle on the sidewalk and gave us a scowl! I so appreciate when people can see you doing something hard and cheer you on instead of being negative. Hard isn't always wrong (nor is easy always right)... more biking wisdom that applies to all of life, haha!
///
Anyway, this cute top I'm wearing here is from Pink Blush, which is a women's + maternity line (and all of their clothes work for each season of life). No, I'm not pregnant, so don't even ask, haha! You can see a sun dress of theirs that I wore earlier this summer HERE. Head over to Instagram (@emmorrice) and enter my giveaway to win a $50 store credit for Pink Blush!
This post was in collaboration with Pink Blush.
All opinions are 100% my own. To book a
collaboration, see HERE.
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