Learning A New Skill | Living Arrows 24/52

Riding a bike has never been something little J has shown an interest in. He loves his scooter and would prefer to ride that than a bike. For his birthday we couldn't decide whether to get him a bike or not and in the end we decided against it. However when lockdown began we thought it might be a good opportunity for him to learn so we asked him if he wanted to put some of his birthday money towards a bike and he said yes.

He had a bike when he was younger with stabilisers but now as he is a lot older buying a bike for his size you don't get stabilisers with them so we had to purchase them separately. 

John has been the one in charge of teaching little J how to ride his bike. At first he started with the stabilisers on just to get used to the bike, balance and the size of the bike. Within a few days John decided to take the stabilisers off.  Little J was so nervous and was paranoid he was going to fall off and hurt himself. He did fall a few times but soon realised that he didn't hurt himself as much as he thought he would. 

They started in the garden as we have astro turf so it has a nice smooth surface and obviously if he fell off it wouldn't hurt him. Learning to ride without the stabilisers was tough and if I am honest I didn't think he would get it but then one day it just clicked. He went from the garden to the road outside our house. It's fairly quiet so he was able to go up and down with John running alongside him. 

It was amazing just watching him go from being so nervous to just riding on his own. He is so proud of himself and wants to head out on his bike all the time now. 

I think he would have never have been interested in riding a bike if it wasn't for lockdown. He is so busy with football 5 days a week that there may not have been time to put in all the time and effort but he's done it now and it will be something he will never forget how to do. 

Michelle

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth