Bike Riding 102

I'd love to be able to tell you we had some sort of miracle method for teaching DS to ride, but we didn't. Pretty much I went out there with no idea of how to go about this, but plenty of enthusiasm and a good pair of running shoes. I can say that in the space of two lessons, he was confident enough to push off and ride a long(ish) distance with no help, and was improving at the whole steering/staying on/not crashing thing. In the course of our second day out together, we actually developed our own method -now forever known as the"emzee Family Goolies Method."

As a side note - I adore Australian slang. So many of the words just roll off the tongue beautifully and sound exactly as the item looks. Case in point, goolies. Goolies are in fact also known as the dangly bits between a man's legs. Doesn't the word goolies (goo-lees) just sound poetically like the items themselves?

Anyway. So DH was trying to get DS to gain some confidence in pushing off on his own. So he would stand about 5 feet in front of the bike, and get DS to push off and then DH would "catch" him. Given the height of the bike's front wheel versus the height of DH's inseam, the top of the wheel (when properly wedged between his legs) would indeed "get him in the goolies." So, me being me, I used this as a comedic motivator. DH was a short way away, and I leaned in and whispered to DS, "Go on, go get your Dad in the goolies!"

He didn't need to be told twice. He laughed like a maniac and then pushed off with a fair amount of force. After a couple of these starts, DH had to stand further and further away from us (or really risk copping it). Eventually, trying to "get Dad in the goolies!" was the goal for the day - with DH standing further and further away (suitably engaging in foolish hip wiggling and carrying on for motivational purposes, of course), DS was determined to get there. It actually worked really well - because it made my son smile, it gave him a goal to work towards, and it reminded him to keep his eyes on the road ahead and NOT at his feet on the pedals. Several times poor DH had to jump out of the way, as Mr Kamikaze Goolie Getter was hell-bent on his mission.

So - there you have it, the emzee Family Goolies Method for bike riding lessons. All it requires is a boy on a bike, and a willing set of goolies.