Meditrina

I feel awful. My daughter is 9 1/2 and cannot ride her bicycle without training wheels. I am sure I am to blame. I should have started her earlier. But I was afraid.

First, we live in a very hilly area and packing up all the things needed plus 2 kids, to go somewhere flat does not happen often enough. There is a nice park with paths to go to, but I cannot go with the 2 kids by myself. If I could clone myself, then yes, I can do it. But 1 kid goes 1 way and the other one goes the other way. as most of you know, my husband is not around much or willing to join us (that is a different issue, I think).

Second, my daughter has been a nervous scaredy cat all of her life. Which in turn, makes me nervous. She is deathly afraid of hurting herself, has always had a hard time doing things she does not know how to do (I keep telling her she needs to try and learn, so she will know how).

I guess I also don't have the knowledge or patience to teach her properly. We recently took the training wheels off and tried it out on the grass. We did not get very far, first frustrated, then we were laughing. She insisted on just getting on it and going, but she cannot keep her balance and won't go fast enough to gain her balance. She refused to have me hold the bike steady for her. Finally, she agreed. But, geez, she is heavy and I have a hard time holding the bike steady.

Does anyone have any experience with this and/or advice? I really want to take rides with her soon, I am itching to get on my own bike.

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"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras