C'mon Parents! Teach Your Child How To Ride A Bike!

I read something yesterday that -- as a father of four children -- frustrated and irritated me. A Canadian company is opening four locations in Chicago to teach kids how to ride their bikes this summer so that parents don't have to deal with it. The classes are for kids ages 3½ to 10 and run for five days. Teachers expect to have beginners riding by the end of it and the rate is a whopping $100 an hour!

I have fond memories of teaching my children how to ride bikes when they were little. My "kids" now range in age from 17 to 23. I look back at old pictures of them riding their bikes and recall running along next to them as they were learning... encouraging them and helping them. To me, it is a special time in a child's life (and in a parent's life)... and to pay someone else $100 an hour to teach them so that a parent doesn't have to deal with it is, in my opinion, absolutely ridiculous! Are parents too busy these days to teach their children how to ride a bike? If so, then they are TOO busy!

The company even has a couple of other programs for kids as young as 2½ called "Trikes & Trainers," dealing with youngsters on tricycles or bikes with training wheels, and another class for "balance bikers," for kids on those beginners' coaster bikes without pedals. The lessons for either of those programs are $109 an hour. You think that's expensive? You'll have to dig deeper into your wallet for the company's private lessons for older students (at any level), which are available at a sky-high price of $229 an hour.

C'mon parents, stop digging into your wallets and purses expecting someone else to teach your child something that you are more than capable of teaching him or her. Make it a priority, block out some time, and teach your child something that they'll be able to enjoy for a lifetime. The memories you'll create from teaching them how to ride a bike will be priceless -- both for you and your child!

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso

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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past