I Want To Ride My Bicycle

Nathan is a chicken.  And, my parents would be quick to add, he gets it honestly.  I was chicken as a child as well. So when Nathan's bike arrived on the sea shipment, we conveniently forgot to put on the training wheels.  It's taken him a bit of time, but he decided to try riding his bike this past Saturday.  We were thrilled!  We packed up Will's scooter as well and headed out to a local park that has a lovely flat, fairly straight path to practice.

Nathan was fairly happy to try, so he hopped and Brian held on for a bit.



Off they go!





Will was being a great cheerleader


As soon as Brian let go, Nath promptly fell off his bike.  Nothing was hurt, but he refused to get back on his back.  And by refused, I mean screaming, crying, and telling Brian how mad he was at him.  We quickly decided if we let him quit he would never try again.  So we tried several different options.  First we tried cajoling - didn't work.  Then we took the tactic of "we believe in you and wish you believed in yourself."  No dice.  Then we went to the, and I'm not particularly proud of this, don't be a baby - look at Will trying.  Nope.  Then Brian went back to the I believe in you spiel and I took Wills out so he could scooter around so Brian could try to talk him down.



There's a cute track around the actual playground

After about 30 minutes from the time Nathan began his fit, I went back to try and bribe him.  Once again, not the best parenting, but it usually proves effective.  We let him know that if he tried again we would reward him with an ice cream.  He quickly perked up - never underestimate the power of ice cream.  Up he jumped with the following result -

A slight wobble...





and he's off!



This was followed by lots of cheering and clapping from us.  He loved it and we could hardly get him off the bike - until he crashed and scraped up the back of his heel.  We were afraid he would be upset enough to not try again, but he assured us he wanted to stop only because the cut hurt.  He was keen to try again on Sunday, but the weather didn't cooperate. 

So bribery wins again.  We ended up very proud of him and, more importantly, he was proud of himself. 

See - proud!