I Like to Ride My Bicycle

It is my fault. It really is. I protected her too much and now I killed the daring side of her. I am overly cautious and think things through TOO much. I take all the blame – hear that, all of it. Dear daughter, I will print this and you can take it in when you are 24 years old as proof. I admit it!

For her 3rd birthday we thought we would get her a little 10” Dora bicycle. Training wheels, bell, streamers, the whole nine. It even came with a little ‘backpack’ and ‘map’ like the cartoon. (One of the only ones she is allowed to watch – until Dora becomes a teenager, don’t EVEN get me started on that one). She was skittish about trying it but she did try. To make it worse, we have an uneven asphalt driveway so the training wheels have to be uneven or her bicycle quickly becomes a stationary exercise bike.

Well – we just gave up. It took her nearly an hour to make it to the MIDDLE of our driveway. The arguing and fighting just wasn’t worth it. So we left it in the garage – eventually she would want to ride.

Her grandma took her camping in Mackinaw at age 4 – this year. Dear Daughter took her bicycle because her 9 year old cousin was going to be there with hers. Well, it didn’t go so well. The uneven training wheels for starters but the really fast 9 year old too. So once again, the bike was put up and our Dear Daughter ran behind her cousin the entire vacation.

When asked what the problem with the bike was, Dear Daughter told grandma that it was too small. She pointed out older kids on bigger 12” bicycles (with no training wheels) and said that was the bike that she needed. I had warned grandma about this. It is a trick….

So, grandma fell for it and got Dear Daughter a bigger bike for her 5th birthday this last June. A nice blue, flowery one with a horn and the stringy things that hang from the handle bars. We tried riding at home, it was a little better however we still had the same issues. We took her new bike camping for the 4th of July, hoping beyond hope that we might get somewhere. Well – we did, but not where we thought we would.

We walked beside her as she rode. We tried to talk her through the hills, both up and down. We mostly pushed her up the hills and held the seat on the way down to slow her. But the crying and whining and ugh…..

We said, “you told grandma that if you got a bigger bike you would be able to ride, so she got you a bigger bike but we seem to have the same issues. What is the problem now?” After much thought she determined the issue, “You know why I can’t ride… because the bike is not PURPLE!”

Hmmmm….. Oh really.