When Michael Natividad learned to ride a bike at 7 or 8 years old, he knew his training wheels were ready to come off when he leaned on them while zipping around corners. His daughter, on the other hand, was barely 3 when she sped away from him on her tiny bicycle, he said, admitting to feeling a bit robbed of a special moment. “I kept thinking of that opportunity holding her up, but I did it for all of maybe one minute,” said Natividad, of Rohnert Park, Calif “I was looking forward to that for three years.
” A big difference was that Loralani, now 4, never used training wheels. Instead, like an increasing number of children, she had learned to ride a balance bike first, at around 2. Balance bikes look like miniature bicycles without pedals.
An adjustable seat can be lowered for children to put their feet on the ground. Some models come with attachable pedals, so kids can use them as their first real bike when ready. Now, as some companies market balance bikes for children as young as 8 months old, the question is, at what age should kids learn to ride a bike? Annie Pezalla, a professor of human development at Macalester College in St.
Paul, Minn., said the 8-month marker “raised my eyebrows” but she saw the logic behind the claim. That’s because the part of the brain largely responsible for coordination, the cerebellum, goes through a huge growth spurt from about 6 to 8 months.
Still, Pezalla recommended caution. Rather than a particular age, she said, it is mor.