Ride Your Dang Bike Week

Our kids aren't very coordinated. They take after their parents. That plus townhouse living didn't make learning to ride a bike very easy. Mostly, the kids didn't really show an interest in riding bikes until recently. Blake tried it out a few times last summer, but couldn't really get the hang of it. Now that Blake and Grant are pushing 8 & 10, it was time to learn to ride their dang bikes.

I devised a bribe, er plan, to get the boys to ride their bikes over Spring Break. It involved a big parking lot, Chuck E. Cheese, and lots of leftover Easter candy bribes. I would tell them if they all learned to ride over Spring Break, we would go to Chuck E. Cheese. We would have riding sessions each day at the local school parking lot, and after each try on the bike, they would get to pick an Easter egg with treats inside. We started talking up the plan a few weeks ago. I figured after a lot of hard work, at least the two older boys would get a good start with riding. I thought all three had at least a pretty good chance, but I did wonder if we would have three sad boys missing out on CEC if things didn't go well.

We bought new helmets for everyone (and yes, Hayden's giant bobble head needed an age 8 and up helmet!), a new bike for Hayden to replace the one stolen at our last house, and found the knee pads. I enlisted Regan's help for Day 1 and Travis took the day off work. I loaded the car with Regan and the kids while Travis finished up some telework, and headed to a nearby school.

First up, was Grant. I ran alongside him, and he got scared as soon as I let go, putting his feet down and stopping pretty quickly on his first try. Next, was Blake. I ran alongside him and let go once he seemed to be balanced. And HE RODE HIS BIKE!!! On the first try!! I jumped up and down and couldn't believe how easy it was! Blake was SO excited. Well, this did not set well with Grant. He furrowed his brow, grabbed the bike and wanted to try again. I got him started, let go, and guess what? HE RODE HIS BIKE!!! Again, jumping up and down and cheering from me.

Meanwhile, Hayden practiced with his training wheels with Regan. I quickly ditched the training wheels and started practicing with our whiney, whimpy 5 year old. He can balance like he's on a tightrope, but is too afraid to pedal once we let go of the bike. He quickly fell again and again as he gave up and we couldn't catch him in time. Ugh, it was so frustrating! After a few tries, he would have some candy treats while Grant and Blake practiced turning, pedaling uphill, and stopping. The afternoon session on Day 1 was more of the same: Hayden whining, and Blake & Grant practicing more.

Grant takes off

Both boys come up the hill on day 1.

Blake loves riding!

And he's off!

Day 2 I was on my own with all the kids. We tried another school and Grant and Blake practiced starting and stopping on their own. Hayden built up his confidence. In the afternoon session I finally figured out the best way to get Hayden riding. We started about 10ft from a grassy patch of the parking lot. It was a slight downhill to the grass and I would give him a start and he would pedal into the grass and catch himself before falling over. After a few tries where I finally convinced him to pedal after I let go, he did it! We slowly moved backward, increasing how long Hayden had to ride to the grass. Finally, he could ride over 100ft all by himself! Hayden was going to CEC! Sadly, I couldn't get pics and push him at the same time, so no pics of him riding yet.

Day 3: too cold. We stayed home.

Day 4: We just practiced once because Cosette was angry. Grant and Blake biked through the Mom Obstacle course (starting/stopping, steering around a few obstacles) and passed. Hayden worked on turning.

Here's the proof starting with Grant:

Blake:

Hayden:

Saturday: CHUCK E CHEESE!! We took all the boys bright and early when the place had just opened: 9am. It was awesome! Because who feeds kids pizza for breakfast? Only the Hobbs! We had the whole place to ourselves for nearly two hours of pizza, soda, games, and rides. As an added bonus, the manager was "testing" the games as we arrived. He left all the tickets he won in the test runs in the machines and the kids followed him, gathering around 50 tickets. It was awesome and totally worth it.

Grant thought this simulated jet-pack ride was kind of scary.

This string of tickets is taller than me!

Cosette goes for a ride.

Tickets taller than me!

Hayden drives!

Things we learned: I'm so proud of the boys. Riding a bike is more about overcoming fears and building confidence than an abundance of skill. I'm glad the boys could learn something new. Also, I don't have a lot of patience. Hayden was making me crazy. I knew he could ride, but he was just too afraid to try. Grant and Blake made me crazy at times too and I could have been more patient with them. I had to step back a few times and admit find that fine line between pushing them to do their best and pushing them to frustration. Some things they just had to take the time to figure out on their own, even if I told them how to do it a million times. Also, I hate whiney crying. If you fall because you didn't listen or freaked out, it's not my fault and as long as there's no blood, there is no reason to cry! I remember when I first learned to ride my bike. I was decent enough to ride up and down the street, but one day I took a fall right in the middle of the street. I laid there crying by myself and watched a car driving closer and closer to me. It finally clicked that the driver wasn't going to stop and dust me off, I was going to have to get my booty up off the asphalt and get onto the sidewalk before I got run over! So I guess I took the same approach with the boys: stop crying in the middle of the street. Get up and get yourself going again! The boys were pretty tough though and didn't have any really nasty spills. In the end, they said I was a good teacher, so I guess they forgave me. :)

Now if I could only develop a plan (and the patience) to teach the boys to tie their shoes this summer. I'm pretty sure it will take all summer. And I'm pretty sure I would pay someone to do it because I KNOW I don't have the patience for that one!


As an added bonus, we headed to the Fredericksburg Family Fun Fest at the mall after CEC. It was awesome. The mall was filled booths showcasing local businesses, crafts for the kids, face-painting, performances, and treats & samples for the kids. We had a fun doing the treasure hunt and trying out the gymnastics display. About 150 screaming tweens were waiting to meet Twilight star Alex Meraz. I'm not a fan, but he did happen to walk right in front of us on the way to his autograph signing, so I snapped a pic.

Alex Meraz, I'm so Sarah Snow right now.