Last Saturday was a beautiful spring day--sunny, warm--gorgeous. So, I got out the bikes I had stored for the last few years in our shed. Our kids were pretty sure that riding bikes was scary, stupid, etc. But, I told them it was a skill they needed to have, whether they wanted it or not. I spent most of the day fixing up the bikes. This mostly entailed checking the tubes for leaks (none), my dad greasing up the chains, and adjusting the bikes to fit the various kids. When we were done, every kid had a working bike. Then we went out to the driveway for a little bike riding lesson. After a while, they seemed to be getting it, so we loaded up the bikes and headed over to the local elementary for a little larger biking area. Aaron had to ride his bike over as he and my brother Chris were busy trying to adjust the seat (it was frozen), and cutting off the lock which we couldn't find the key for. When we got to the school, I was prepared for tears, more running after kid's bikes holding them up, etc. But lo, and behold, all of them took off on their own. They rode around like old pros for about an hour. "Bike riding is fun!" they said, "This is great!" We went to Chuck-A-Rama for a delicious and well deserved buffet dinner afterwards. It's been great weather this week and every available minute they've been outside riding their bikes. The most exciting part of the day yesterday was PE. We went out to the trail at the park with our cousins and friends and the kids rode their bikes together. It was awesome.
5 comments:
hallelujah! i'm impressed you had bikes that fit all of them.
I've had similar experiences with some of my kids getting started. And really, I depend on my kids riding their bikes all the time, for getting to and from school, piano lessons, friends' houses, etc. It's good for them to have the independence. Good job, Abbott kids!
Emily
Last Sunday we saw quite a few families around town riding bikes together - we were totally jealous because riding a bike is awesome (and the families were totally adorable)! I'm so glad they learned this very important lesson.
My kids love, love their bikes- that is when their tires aren't flat because of pokey desert spines flattening them. Josh has fix bike tires on his to-do list today!
What a great idea! I remember as a kid spending all day riding my bike with our neighborhood "gang". We had so much fun exploring on and off road!
We were recently gifted a kids seat that attaches to an adult bike so I'm trying to talk Spencer into buying a bike for himself so we can start riding as a family. Thanks for the inspiration Missa!!
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