Hello everyone and welcome to the Your Village podcast, Parenting Beyond Discipline,

the place to learn about all things parenting and get your questions answered. I'm your host,

Erin Royer. So this week we're going to do another set of parenting questions. I have a couple of really

great questions that came in this week. The first one is from Crystal. I just started listening to

the podcast. My kid's third birthday is coming up in July and she is asking for a bike. I currently

use a stroller to walk her and her two dogs to the playground in the morning. I'm wondering if it's a good time to start teaching her to ride a bike and if you have any product

recommendations. I have the impression that a balanced bike is the best way to start off.

I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was an adult, so I want my child to have this experience

and I want to introduce it correctly. Great question, Crystal. So there are two

types of bikes that are both great for toddlers, tricycles and balanced bikes. They both have

advantages and they help kids develop skills for riding a two-wheel bike. Some of these skills

overlap and others are unique to the tricycle or the balance bike. So I'll go over those similarities and

differences. In general, both balance bikes and tricycles are great for teaching beginning

bike riding skills and for improving gross motors. So gross motor is those large motor skills,

the legs, the trunk, the arms. So I'll tell you about each, what each type teaches, and you can decide which

sounds best. Also, to answer your question, yes, three is a perfectly good age to have a toddler

start working on these skills. Now, riding a two-wheel bike without training wheels requires

three main skills, balance, pedaling, and steering. For the tricycle, children feel safe and balance

while moving the tricycle either by pedaling or propelling their feet on the ground. Developmentally,

pedaling is not age appropriate until after age three. They just can't get this motion down

very well before that age.

Children who are exposed earlier, meaning three, not earlier than three, and have normal development, are capable of pedaling at an earlier age,

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