Finding Your Balance

A few nights or maybe years ago, my mother in law was bragging at the dinner table about how she had learned to ride a bike at age four.

Not only did she teach herself how to ride a bike but she then went around the neighborhood and insisted on teaching all the older boys how to ride because she thought it was silly that they couldn’t yet.

My then 5 year old daughter was wide-eyed. I could almost see the gears turning.

The next day, the only thing she wanted to do was get on her bike.

Like all good parents raising children in this decade, we had researched how to train your child to ride their bike on youtube ahead of time.

There a guy (Chris Pedrin) claimed you could teach your child to ride their bike in 5min or less with 3 easy steps [link]. I must admit that his method made a lot of sense, and was a lot better than how I recall learning it.

To summarize his process:

Step one, you need to ask your child if they WANT to ride a bike. Lucky for us, grandma had given our daughter a little inspiration there. If you don’t have a spunky grandma with swagger, consider what motivates your child and how to tap into that.
The second step is to teach your child that they can catch themselves when they start to feel themselves lose their balance. In his video, Chris demonstrated how to hold the handlebars and lean bike from side to side to let them practice putting a foot down to stop it from falling. This gives your child the confidence and knowledge of what to do in case they feel the bike start to fall. Falling or failing is part of learning anything new. Fear of failing can often prevent many folks from even trying. Normalizing failure, and accepting that that is part of learning…makes it not as scary.
The third and final step, is to give your child a boost. While standing behind them, you grasp the handle bars and seat until they have their balance. You let go of the handle bars and encourage them to start pedaling as you give them a soft push. You might even show them how to take a small step to gain momentum prior to pedaling. Starting something new is always hard on your own. Sometimes a gentle nudge from others, paired with knowing what to do next (baby steps) make the end-goal a little more attainable.
Our daughter was determined. It didn’t take 5 minutes, but within a few days she was riding around the cul-de-sac on her own. Once we’d given her the tools, she was able to experiment on her own until she got the hang of things.

I really recommend Chris’s video if you ever need to teach someone how to ride a bike.

I know plenty of adults who never learned how to ride a bike, how to swim, or how to drive a car. While it doesn’t impact them every day, it does limit the activities that they can do with friends and family. Things that we take for granted, like going to the community pool or floating the river on a hot summer day are a little more fearful.

What challenge or obstacle do you want to overcome in your life? What is holding you back from being the best version of yourself?

Maybe you are nervous speaking in front of a group. You feel shaky, forget your words, or forget what you said afterwards.

Perhaps you have dreams of delivering a toast at a friend’s wedding, or nailing a presentation for work. You want to have your voice heard in a meeting, and make sure your ideas are well supported.

Toastmasters is filled with others who are constantly trying build on their strengths, learn from their mistakes, and build momentum in their speaking and leadership goals.

The club mission to provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

We are all learning from each other. Each meeting is an opportunity to find our balance, gain confidence, and consider different perspectives.