I apologise now as this will be long. Ds will be 3 in a couple of months. We were thinking of getting a balance bike for his birthday as a) we hope he'd like it & b) we think it might help to develop his physical skills which have always lagged behind his speech/imagination.
Went to look at some today only to be told by shop assistant it was a waste to buy one given his age & he'd be much better going for a bike with stabilisers. He said given he'd not got much experience of ride-ons, a balance bike would be more hinderance than help because the wheels would be too thin & he would likely just fall off.
The fact ds can't pedal yet apparently doesn't matter because he's 'got to learn' & he claims its more important for him to learn how to pedal while fully supported than to learn how to balance. How if he went for a BB then he'd just be lazy as he wouldnt know how to pedal a proper bike & would just push it along & it would take even longer than learning with stabilisers.
He then got me to try ds on a 12" bike, his feet wouldn't even touch the ground & it was so heavy there's no way he's ready for a proper bike yet.
I was quite taken aback with his attitude, esp since i thought most folks think balance bikes are a great idea & can't help thinking he is spouting a load of bollocks rubbish &
But now am doubting myself - is he right? Is it pointless to get one for a 3 year old?
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.
Behaviour/development
balance bike or bike with stabilisers for 3 year old?
29 replies
omama · 23/05/2013 14:44
OP posts:
rubyrubyruby ·
23/05/2013 21:48
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
Newsletters you might like
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.