This is the beginning of a fun and exciting journey for us–teaching our kids to ride a Strider Bike!!
My husband and I first saw balance bikes for young kids on Shark Tank and immediately thought that they were amazing. I love that show!! People are so creative!
This summer my sister-in-law shared a couple of pictures of their little girl using a Strider bike. She started using the bike around 18 months and was gliding on her own at about 2.5 years old. Crazy cool, huh?
My husband and I started thinking that we really wanted to get some [walmart http://www.walmart.com/ip/Strider-Sports-12-Classic-No-Pedal-Balance-Bike/40527172 Striders] for our kids. We love that they can start learning so early.
After doing quite a bit of research we decided that the Strider bike is the best fit for our kids because of the bike’s weight and adjustability. [walmart http://www.walmart.com/ip/Strider-Sports-12-Classic-No-Pedal-Balance-Bike/40527172 Strider bikes] are the lightest of the Balance bikes out there (6.7 lbs). They are also super easy to adjust both in the saddle and handlebars! Read more about Strider bikes!
At Strider®, we love riding bikes, and we love inspiring kids to ride. Our mission is to build lightweight, efficient, all-terrain bikes that develop two-wheeled balance, coordination, and confidence in children.
We are excited to start this experience of teaching our kids to ride and helping them gain confidence in their skills. We are very grateful to Strider for making this experience a possibility!
Because our kids are so close in age, but have very different personalities, it will be so fun to compare how they learn and develop over the next year or so.
Already our kids are in love with the bikes. Owen, at 20 months can pick his bike up off the ground and mount it with almost no help at all. Which has been important after a couple of little wipe-outs! I am so impressed with how easily he can maneuver the bike.
Both of our kids are still in the beginning stages of learning how to use the bike. They basically just walk with the bike between their legs. Lanae actually sits on the saddle as she walks, Owen just walks and hasn’t quite figured out the seat. Which is totally fine.
As they get comfortable walking around with the bike between their legs and working the handlebar, they will start to ‘trust’ the bike and the saddle.
Lanae started out with way more confidence than I expected. Probably just because she is much more coordinated at 3 then Owen is at 20 months. She has already started moving her legs quicker and she can lap Owen at least once or twice on our walks!
Owen has also made huge improvement. He loves all things with wheels! Seriously, he is obsessed! So his excitement level was much higher than Lanae’s. However he is still easily distracted by things around him and loses focus which makes him extremely slow.
On our very first day out he had to be shown specifically how to hold onto the handles the right way and didn’t quite get how to steer so he would often pick up or drag the bike to get it where he needed to go. With a little prompting and a couple days of practice he has become much better at steering and is actually picking up a little speed.
I can tell that our patience will be tried a little as we help them, but we have made it a habit to pull the bikes out whenever we go to the park or for a short walk so that they get little spurts of practice frequently!
We love being outside as a family, though. So it provides for some great quality time and hopefully will help them to develop confidence in themselves and a love for riding.
We can’t wait to see them move on to the next stage!!
This last picture is from when my family came for Christmas. Lanae loves playing with her Opa… and of course Opa wanted to show her how it feels to ride fast!!
This post does contain affiliate links. If you do happen to get a Strider bike after clicking on one of these links, you’ll pay the same, but a small commission will go to me! Thanks so much for your support!
**We received 2 Strider bikes from Strider, however, all opinions are my own. Any bolded blue text is a direct quotation from Strider.
Your children are adorable and they look like they are having a great time!! I have not heard of these bikes, but I am going to look into getting one for my nephew.
Thank you! That is super sweet! I bet your nephew will enjoy one!
How cute are your kids?! We loved our Strider Bike!
Aw! Thanks. They are so fun, huh?