This evening we picked up an early birthday present for Madelyn (can it truly be time for another birthday?!!) We are headed to Sunriver next week for our annual vacation with our friends, and we wanted her to have a bike to ride while she is there (Sunriver has fabulous bike trails, for those who have never been). I've done quite a bit of research in the last few days (you have to be thorough about these things when you live with my husband!) about ways to get toddlers started on bikes, and everything kept pointing to pedal-less "balance" bikes. I've seen more and more tots on them recently, and everyone says that if you start your kiddo on one of these, they won't even need training wheels when it comes time to transition to a full-size two-wheel bike because they will already have mastered the scariest part of two-wheeling: learning to balance. Anyway, we're pretty stoked about this new adventure, and so is Maddie! She hopped on right away and started pushing along, and I'm sure in no time, she'll be cruising. She has talked and talked about a pink bike, and lo and behold, we were actually able to comply. Fun times!(We were super excited to find out about these bikes, and we're always super excited to share good finds with others. If you are interested in learning more about these bikes -- particularly the Striders like we got Maddie -- hit this gal's website:
She's local and will meet you anywhere to do a demo with your kiddo at no cost. She also ships around the country, but even if you're able to find a local retailer closer to you, her website has great information (and adorable videos) of the philosophy behind the bikes. Enjoy!)
1 comment:
they are, indeed, the way to go! not that everything european is sacred, but children in germany only rode these bikes. they don't do training wheels over there and it's true: the kids are all right two-wheeler (with pedals) a lot sooner than american kids do. very cool that you found one for her. my parents beat me to the punch and bought ezra the training wheel bike for his birthday (didn't know that was going to happen....) so we're investigating ways to remove the pedals from the bike to give him the same effect...have fun, mads!
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