We've been telling Joshua all spring that this summer he was going to learn to ride his bike with no training wheels. So last week I worked with Joshua as he screamed and cried and yelled and cried some more for over an hour. I tried the traditional "holding onto the back of the seat", but he seemed to have no balance. I even went so far as to taking the pedals off his bike so he could use his bike like a ride on toy and practice balancing that way. Nothing helped. He was mad at me for the rest of the day and all through the night that I would dare make him ride a bike. I totally expected his whole reaction and predicted it months before the training wheels ever came off, but after dealing with it for over an hour last week I pretty much gave up hope that Joshua riding a two wheeler this summer was going happen. To say he is STUBBORN is putting it very mildly. When the child has no desire to do something (even if we know he CAN do it) he won't.
My friend had told me about a "learn how to ride your bike" class that her friend's son had taken at Gymco. Now that I'd given it a try with Joshua I knew it was a challenge better suited for him to conquer without the help of Cory or me so I signed him up online. The class was Wednesday afternoon and Joshua was nervous from the moment he found out he was going. It was Joshua and two other boys his age taking the class. He was putting on his brave face until he realized the teacher wanted the parents to leave for the class. He had a few tears, but a hug helped and he was off gliding (using his feet to push his bike around like a ride on toy) around the parking lot. I ran a couple of errands and when I returned an hour and half later this is what I saw!!!
Lo and behold, the stubborn child CAN ride a two wheeler! After lots of cheering and praise watching him show off his new skill I talked to the instructor. The teacher totally agreed with the need to have Joshua in this class saying that it would have been a huge struggle for us as parents to teach him since he had a huge fear and lots of anxiety about it and it's better that someone he doesn't know teaches him so they are connected with that fear and anxiety, not us. The teacher told me how he had watched Joshua glide with ease and do a good job at balancing so he knew Joshua was ready to actually ride the bike. When the teacher asked Joshua to put his feet on the pedals and try pedaling/riding the bike Joshua screamed and cried at him and even told him he was mean. Thankfully the teacher has dealt with kids like Joshua before and gave him some good ol' tough love and kept pushing Joshua to ride his bike. Sure enough, after a little pep talk Joshua took right off! I am so thankful this class was available, the teacher understood Joshua's personality and pushed through it with him!!! It was totally worth every penny we spent!
We have been practicing every day day since the class and although Joshua still has some fears and anxiety he is pushing through it and getting better and better. Today there were NO tears and he actually asked to ride down the street another time! We still have some skills to work on with him such as getting him to start on his own and turning better, but he is well on his way! We have no idea where Joshua's strong fear and anxiety is coming from regarding riding his bike (he has never had a bad fall or any bad experience involving a bike), but riding a bike has been a HUGE challenge for him and we are VERY proud of him for doing it!! WAY TO GO JOSHUA!!
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