A few days ago I went to Toys R Us and bought Landon his first new, shiny, big boy bike.
It had to be put together, so Don and Landon picked it up yesterday while I was at a David Meister fashion show here in Westchester.
Before buying this bike, I had bought a used one for $10 at Once Upon a Child, but it was kind of too little and we never pumped up the tires enough. It was just lying around.
When I saw an ad that Toys R Us was giving a $20 credit for trading in a used bike, I made a point to trade in that old, rusty bike. I’m not really in a rush, but I figure it’s time that L learns to ride a bike.
I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was 7 years old in Germany because my parents didn’t think kids younger than that could react fast enough if they had to stop very fast if a car didn’t see them or that they could really understand the traffic rules.
Most Germans ride a bike for small distances instead of take a car, and there are bike paths next to most streets. So you end up riding a bike much more than the average American. I rode mine to school and to friends and into town for about eight years, until I got my first car when I was 19.
I bought L this bike because it’s silver and has a shark on the frame — he’s fascinated with sharks. He loves them almost as much as killer whales and dolphin.
When I came home from the fashion show, he proudly showed me how well he can ride it.
The saddle wasn’t the right height yet, but Don fixed that today. I bet L will be cruising around the house in no time without the training wheels.
Just in time for buying the next size, because I bought this one so he would be able to put both his feet down while learning to ride it.
At what age did your children learn to ride a bike? And how often do they actually ride it?
