Comment by mdip

I've been advocating for this for 12 years, now. I figured it out by accident after watching my 2-year-old niece on a "balance bike" and was like "duh, no pedals!"

My 3-year-old and 5-year-old learned in one day and the "pedals off" part took 30-minutes to an hour (more for my youngest). For the first few years, every time someone would pass my 3-4 year old riding a two-wheeler without training wheels they'd stare in amazement and ask me how I taught her to do that. I'd explain "training wheels until they can pedal/steer, then pedals off for an hour until they're balancing, back on with a 'hold the seat and let go' and that's it". A couple of weeks later, I'd see that same child rolling down the sidewalk without training wheels. I taught every one of my nieces/nephews using the same technique. I've yet to find someone it doesn't work on.

Neither of my kids fell the first time. Both of them understood I'd be letting go on that "saddle holding/running part" at some point without telling them when. I just warned them "if you see I'm not there, DON'T PANIC(tm), because you've already been riding on your own for a while by then!" Every single kid had the same thing happen ... they'd see I'm a house behind them catching my breath, they'd get a look of terror in their eyes, the bike would "dip" a little and they'd catch it, then the look would change to a ridiculous grin as they realized "I did it!"

It was one of the best experiences as a Dad and I'll admit I choked up with each of my children when they nailed it, especially my autistic son who has a really hard time with anxiety/fear related to learning skills that might involve getting injured in the process.