Cycling With Children
Children love cycling. In these days of increasing childhood obesity and other inactivity-related problems, it is great to encourage them.
It is important though to make sure they are safe on the roads - that their bicycle is well-maintained, they can control it properly and are aware and capable of dealing with traffic. Fortunately, with good training and preparation, accidents are rare.
Teaching your child to cycle
Children can learn to ride a bike from a young age – around 5 years old. Before that, you can include younger children on bike rides by carrying them in a trailer or child seat, as described on our transporting young children page.
There are two main methods of teaching a child to cycle:
- Learning control aspects (steering, pedalling, braking) first, then learning balance. Traditionally this is done by attaching stabilisers, which are later removed.
- Learning balance first, then control. This method has been gaining popularity in recent years. Start your child off on a bike without pedals, either by completely removing the pedals or by buying a like-a-bike or similar. Children start off by "scooting" the bike along with their feet. As they master the idea of balance and momentum, they can scoot for long distances without putting their feet down. This is the time to move them up on to a proper bike and introduce pedals and brakes.
Whichever method of teaching you use, it is important to keep it fun and engaging and also to make your child feel secure and confident. It is much more difficult to control a bicycle at slow speeds than fast, so to be successful, children need to have the confidence to give a good push off at the start. Don't be tempted to give them a bike "to grow into" - if the bike is the wrong size, it is very hard to control and children may be put off for a long time by a bad experience.
