Learning to Ride a Bike (c) Amanda van Mulligen |
A few decades on, a change of location, and I am now the one spurring my son on to bike his way around on just two wheels. In the Netherlands, most children, if not actually born attached to a bike, are cycling almost as soon as they have some sort of leg control. At the age of 4 there are children cycling past me on the school run on two wheels. My son has already had a cycling lesson on the school playground (the first of many to come) as well as traffic awareness lessons. The foundation has been laid. It is a matter of time (I suspect weeks if the weather allows) before he joins the majority of the local population and practically glues his bum to a bicycle seat - a relationship which will last until he no longer has proper control of his legs...... I guess I had better dust my bike down and start trying to recapture my cycling glory years before all three of my sons master two wheels!
On returning to school after the Christmas holidays DS2 (4) was asked to draw a picture of what he wanted to achieve in 2012, he wanted to learn to cycle without stabilisers. 3 months later he succeeded and now both boys age 4 and 5 cycle to school every day, it still amazes me that cycling from such a young age is the norm here! Groetjes, Charlie.
ReplyDelete