It’s like learning to ride a bike, they say. (They who? What's like it? So many questions ... I digress.)

Mr. Archer Bruce, our beloved first born, was having trouble just letting go and learning to ride his bike! He has always been a little bit cautious, but even with training wheels he just couldn’t seem to let go.

We got him a strider bike for his second birthday and he was never one of those kids that would zip around, gliding with a huge smile on his face. He would push it, glide a little sometimes, but was mostly just happy to walk around with his bike between his legs.

When he got his big boy bike that has training wheels for his fourth birthday, we thought it would be different. I think it was actually worse. Enter Pedalheads. I had heard of this organization from other parents/friends that raved about them helping children to learn to ride their bikes. In a matter of hours, our friends’ kids were riding on two wheels! I never really considered it for us. As the parents, we want what's best for our kids. We should be able to teach our kid to ride his bike. Right?

Wrong.

When do things in parenthood ever go as planned?*

*when there isn’t candy or tv or other forms of bribery involved.

As the summer approached this year, we tried to get Archer out on his bike, but we faced the same problems as last year. He just wasn’t getting it. He was a willing participant, so eager to learn and keep up with the neighbourhood kids. It just wasn’t clicking for him, so I signed him up for a bike camp the first week of July. Three hours at camp on the first day, and he was ready to take his training wheels off! We haven’t looked back since. Lessons learned, expectations suck. Parenting is hard. We cannot, nor should we be expected, do everything for our kids.

But we can make them happy and help them learn.

Most of the time.

And those other times? Like when your five year old has a tantrum for all of the reasons (his brother “hit” him and then wouldn’t stop looking at him while trying to eat his breakfast < my morning) and refuses to eat, but instead just cries?

Ya, they’re unavoidable. And shitty. But they happen. And that’s okay. We can’t do everything for ourselves, even. Never mind for our kids! But we do our best. And our best in this scenario just happened to be paying someone else to help our oldest when learning to ride a bike.

Ride on,

Anya

Group of Kids at Pedalheads Camp

Pre-Pedalheads Bike Parade on the Last Day

Pedalheads Bike Parade

Archer in the Bike Parade

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