I had my first and only child when I as forty six. Despite having a lot of experience working prior to that, I had not really spent much time learning about the new and best things for kids. So, when my little girl said that she wanted a kids balance bike last week, I had no idea what she was talking about. I wondered if it was a brand name or even a type of exercise machine that you use in your house.
She explained that it’s a bike with no pedals and that all the kids are using them. I asked her if it’s an electric bike, and she said no. Having no idea what she was talking about, I figured I better check it out. I never buy anything that she want without learning about it first so that I can be sure it is something she can use safely. Because her birthday was coming up, I knew I should do my research quickly. She had been bugging me for one incessantly, and I knew she was hoping she would get one on the big day.
To put it simply, the bike she wanted is powered when she puts her feet on the ground and simply propels herself along. I wondered why this was important, and many sites online explained that this helps any child learn how to ride a two-wheel bike so much more quickly than when a parent slaps on a set of training wheels.
It also means that by the time a child is ready to graduate to a bike with pedals, there will be less chance of the child hurting themselves due to not being able to balance well. And children also feel less silly when they have a chance to ride something with two wheels, even if it has no pedals. It looked like a pretty safe way to have fun, so I bought her a pink one and we hid it in the shed. On her big day, we brought it out to surprise her with it. We had to beg her to come back to eat her cake and punch because she was so excited that she raced out to ride for 20 minutes instead!