In this post, learn how I taught both of my kids—and several neighborhood kids—how to ride a bike without training wheels in under 30 minutes.
When I shared what we were going to do that morning, my son argued back. I heard the panic in his voice as I searched in the garage for knee pads. “But what if I can’t? I’m going to fall.”
With calm hands, I strapped the knee pads to his shaky legs. “You will walk your bike to the school, but you will ride it back home.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I believe in you!”
Here’s the Important Part
As we approached the flat field behind the school, he began to whimper, “I’m going to fall. I’m going to fall.”
Kneeling, I met his eyes and said, “Yes. You will fall. You will fall once, then twice, and probably a third time. So let’s practice falling first, then we will practice riding.”
I held his bike steady as he climbed on and began to pedal. “I’m going to let go now, and you are going to fall.”
He fell to the right and hit the grass. A smile erupted over his face as he laughed. “That wasn’t scary and didn’t even hurt! Let’s go again!”
We practiced again…and again. With the fear of falling no longer consuming him, his confidence grew with each length across the field. Within 30 minutes, he was cruising.
Related: 10 Ways to Make Kids Laugh
Why Does This Work?
I recently read a book called The Opposite of Worry: The Playful Parenting Approach to Childhood Anxieties and Fears by Lawrence Cohen. In his book, Cohen discusses the importance of validating a child’s fear without judgment.
Validating my son’s fear of falling with calm assurance counteracted his anxiety and increased trust and confidence. Letting him know exactly what was going to happen (that he was going to fall) removed his fear of the unknown.
Related: The Benefits of Cooking with Kids Outweigh the Challenges
How to Teach Your Kid to Ride a Bike Without Training Wheels in 30 Minutes or Less
Learning to ride a bike without training wheels is an amazing milestone. I was so proud of my son, I felt my heart might burst. Besides knowing he was emotionally and developmentally ready, there were several factors in place that contributed to his success.
Follow the tips below, and you might have your kid riding within 30 minutes too!
1. Help Your Child Feel Safe
Helmets are essential, but knee and elbow pads can help increase confidence by making your child feel safe.
My son wore “his armor” for two days, but only grabbed his helmet on the third day!
2. Check the Seat
I lowered my son’s seat as low as I could. This enabled him to place his feet comfortably to the ground, which made him feel better about riding without training wheels.
3. Try Soft First
Soft grass isn’t as intimidating or painful as pavement. Encouraging your child to pedal down a small grassy slope can help him learn to balance his bike, naturally.
4. Let Go
Holding onto your child’s bike the entire time hinders their natural ability to balance.
I held my son’s bike steady as he climbed on and began to pedal, then gave him a gentle push forward and let go (I didn’t even run beside him). He fell often but quickly learned to balance his bike and ride independently.
Related: Anger Management Skills for Kids
5. Ride Over a Walkway
Once my son felt confident about his ability to bike on grass, I encouraged him to ride back and forth over the flat walkway.
That little bit of concrete showed him that pavement was nothing to fear, and eventually, he felt brave enough to try riding in the parking lot.
6. Watch Yourself
Sometimes as adults, it’s difficult to remain patient while teaching kids new skills. (Especially when they start yelling, crying, or throwing a fit.)
It would’ve been very easy for me to give up and give in, except, I know my kid! I know that this child, my oldest son, is the one who needs a little more encouragement to try new things. I made an effort to use a calm, encouraging voice that demonstrated confidence in his abilities!
7. Cheer Your Heart Out
Goodness, kids are amazing! As my son was riding, I cheered, “Keep on pedaling! Push! Push! You’re doing it!”
Cheer your heart out, dance, pump your arms, and spin your kid around in the air when he succeeds! However, nothing you can say or do will beat the feeling of success and pride your child is feeling inside.
Photography: © Alliance | Adobe Stock
Dana Vaudrin says
Thanks for sharing! My daughter has refused to try riding her bike again after some falls. I’m going to use your tips with her next Saturday. 🙂
Jodi Pollack says
Congratulations to your son that is a huge accomplishment! Sometimes the best way to learn is to jump in with both feet.
We took a bit of a different approach with my son who is 3. We bought him a balance bike on his 3rd birthday, those are the bikes with a foot board instead of pedals, it helps the child to concentrate on balancing and steering without worrying about the pedaling. The first month my son just pushed himself around slowly on his bike, like a crawling speed, he wouldn’t try putting his feet up or going any faster. Then I started talking him on walks to the library with his bike, he learned how to go faster, and the first time he hit a hill he could coast down, he learned to lift his feet up and balance. By the next month he could balance just fine and was riding everywhere. We’ve given him most of the summer to practice, next month he turn 3.5 yrs and we will be getting him a 12″ bike with pedals (no training wheels) and I’m confident that he will be able to ride it easily!
viki says
I totally agree with you! Over here in Germany you can hardly get a bike with trainig wheels anymore. Everybody put their Kids on Balance bikes and it does wonders! I can´t tell you just how thrilled I was when my two boys (now 6 and 7) made their transition from the balance bike to a regular bike within a few minutes only! Since they already mastered how to hold their balance, all they had to manage was starting off.
Susan says
I taught all my daughter’s friends how to ride like this (but not my daughter – she just naturally balanced and was off within 5 minutes of being on a bike). I taught them all by lowering the seat as low as possible so that their feet can always touch ground, and took the wheels off the bike so that they can balance & coast, and then hit the ground with their feet before they fall. Not one used training wheels. Training wheels are basically a waste of time.
Alpana Deo says
Dear Melissa, wonderful post and congratulations to you and your son….
You chalked out pretty good techniques…loved the Grass idea. The biggest factor that hold them back is the feeling of getting hurt. But the Grass idea is a solution to that. Thanks for writing an useful post. I am going to use some of the tips with my daughter.
Ran says
I’m 23 years old and I can’t ride a bike, I didn’t have the chance to learn when I was a child, but now I’m determined to do it, I’m going to buy a bike next Monday, I dont have any one to help me through this, so do you have any advice for a grown up….wish me luck ^_^
Genice says
Great tips! I love the idea of practicing a fall! We live by the ocean so we took our kids to the beach and rode on the wet sand. Smooth like pavement and soft to fall in!
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
How lovely to ride on the beach! Thanks for sharing!
Me-ist says
No one ever use a balance bike? You get them a balance bike they won’t ever need training wheels. My 4 year old got it quickly jumped on a bike no problem.
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
I’m so glad the balance bike worked for your family! It didn’t for us (we didn’t have any trikes or 3-wheelers for him to learn to peddle on, so when we switched him to a 2-wheeler, he had a difficult time learning to peddle).
I actually gave away our balance bike and am not even bothering with it for my 2nd son!
kd35 says
Balance bike didn’t work for us either. After 2 years of our son refusing to try picking his feet up to balance on it, I scrapped the idea and gave it to a local children’s shelter. He has been happily using his bike with training wheels ever since. He’s now 6, and still a very cautious child…he has made it his personal goal to learn to ride his bike w/o training wheels by the end of this summer 🙂
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
Balance bikes are cool, but they are expensive. Why buy 2 bikes when you only need to buy 1? Right? I hope these tips help you! This weekend, I’m using them again with my 5 year old. He is so ready to ditch his training wheels!
Rebecca says
This was such a great resource. My 5 year old has been dreading taking off his training wheels, but I used this post as a guide for today. His first ride in the grass without the trainers and he was hooked. We couldn’t believe how easy it was for his and us!
Rachel S says
My son is terrified of falling, so practicing falling is a great idea! If only all the fields in central Indiana weren’t covered with Canada goose poop. :p I’ll have to work to find a clean, grassy field! lol
Jennifer Brown says
Growing up, one of the times when I felt I have conquered my fears is with a bicycle. Since then, I have come to really love it and have actually experience a lot of things – the bruises, the falling, and a lot more – but most of all, it taught me how to take care of something which I believe I have brought until now. Back then, my bike was like my life, and I’d look forward to the next morning when my Mom would allow me to go have a ride in the neighborhood.
I love this post, and I would definitely apply these tips to my kids cause I know it’ll bring them self confidence. And I guess practicing to fall would really come in handy. I never had that tip growing up.
Theres Just One Mommy says
Love the idea of helping them learn to fall first. Got to get mine out to practice today!
Courtney says
Oh, I am so very excited about this! My son just turned 7 and still refuses to take off the training wheels. We’re going to go get elbow and knee pads tomorrow! Thank you for such wonderful ideas and tips. I love the concept of learning to fall first and removing that source of fear. That is THE reason he doesn’t want to take them off. Aaaah! So excited!
Melissa says
Training wheels helped me to learn. My parents lowered my seat and raised the training wherls. When I would start to fall they would catch me. Worked great!
beva says
tried it today with my four year old: success within 5 minutes!
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
I’m doing a happy dance over here with you! Yeah! Give your kiddo a high five for me!
Amy says
I know this is an older post but I’m glad I came across it. I have had alot of trouble trying to teach my son how to ride a bike. We started with training wheels and he had no problem on those. We eventually tried with out the training wheels. Things didn’t go so well. As soon as I would let go of his bike he would freak out because he had it stuck in his head that I let go so he was going to fall. And we had all the helmet and knee and elbow pads on. My son is 9 now and won’t even try to learn. I think I will give him a little push. It should be so easy now that he can touch the ground.
Melissa Lennig says
I’m glad you stopped by to comment. Sounds like his fear of falling is getting in the way, so once you confront that, things should go much smoother! Good luck, Amy!