Clay Nichols: This week we are going to be talking about the iconography of father favorite, rich tapestry of images that are suggesting by the word Dad or father. So for example, think of what's the first image that springs to my mind when I say Dad.
Brad Powell: Beer.
Clay Nichols: No. No, I am thinking about classic Norman Rockwell, father-child, kind of, images. Ready to go.
Brad Powell: Kids bring in our beer from the fridge, you are on couch.
Clay Nichols: This week we're going to be talking about teaching a child to ride a bike.
Brad Powell: Oh! Hence the helmet.
Clay Nichols: Tune into that.
Brad Powell: Kid, you have flowers on your helmet and butterflies. Oh, that's precious.
Clay Nichols: Teaching your kid to ride a bike is one of the classic moments of father day, something we all look forward to is a moment we'll embrace for a lifetime and as with any moment that a parent hopes to embrace for a lifetime, there is huge potential for frustration, emotion, and gigantic meltdown.
Brad Powell: And the kids can misbehave too.
Clay Nichols: The first thing you want to do when beginning this process is to roll back your expectations a bit. Riding a two wheeler is a big step for a little kid, it may take several tries. Take the pressure off yourself and the little one as much as you can.
Chris Carter: So having patience is one of the key things as dads. We all want to get our kids roll and ride away and they'll all learn in good time, so definitely patience is the key. Introducing a child to the bike as early as possible, that will help to speed that process up. Children before they can walk, can learn to ride a bike. A tricycle is a great way to introduce that, it's very stable. They can hold the handle bars, stand on the back plate, and push it around. So that child is learning how the bike steers and how it moves without really having to sit down and peddle it that time.
Specialized makes a great bike, it's called the Hotwalk. The Hotwalk does not have any peddles at all, no crank set. It's very small, so to accommodates a smaller child, very light weight, so they can move it around and put it back where it goes, and it's great because it teaches the balance first. So now they are learning steering and they are learning the balance, and how to use their core and their back, and its' like a kick bike.
Brad Powell: Helmets, they are no-brainier, except they protect your brain, so I guess that makes him a brainier.
Clay Nichols: We were shocked to learn that a among kids polled who ride bikes, only 50% said they wear helmets all the time, even though wearing a helmet reduces the likelihood of a brain injury by 85%.
Brad Powell: Now bike riding is risky. They are more tips to the ER from bike riding than there are from any other sports activities.
Clay Nichols: Yeah, it seems like we may have gotten broken arms and some stitches.
Brad Powell: Details. We love to ride bikes, we want to make sure that we are safe about it.
Chris Carter: So when buying a kid's helmet, inside certification sticker usually by Snell, we definitely want to check for that, that's super important. A dual adjustable strapping system and this lever, if I unlock this, I can pull my straps other side to adjust fore and aft on the jawline to make it super comfortable for the child. This buckle, this is a nice secure strong buckle.
Then when fitting a helmet, the rear, the tension strap should just under the base and they wear it much like a baseball cap. So the front should be just over the brow line. These come in three different sizes. So this particular one is a toddler size helmet. Then they have a child, then they have a youth.
Clay Nichols: Around 3 or 4 years of age, a family will buy bikes like these with training wheels. You start off with the training wheels really close to the ground, so that there is not much wiggle room. As the kid gains confidence, you raise the training wheels up a little bit or you bend them out. There is a little more play in the bike at that point the kid learns to balance and eventually just remove the training wheels.
Chris Carter: If you raise the training wheels too early because they get it really, they start going really well and if you raise the training wheels too early, they start the teeter and since they haven't gotten used to the balance aspects of the bike that can make them a little nervous. As they start to get better at navigating that bike or get to go faster on that bike, then you are going to want to start to move them off of the training wheels because it becomes a safety issue. If I am cruising with those four wheels and I make a turn, I am going to flip.
Clay Nichols: So the training wheels are off and your big daddy day has arrived. You want to select a nice open flat grassy field like this for the first ride of your kids. May be a slight downward, then you are ready to go. Ready honey?
Brad Powell: Now you can think about it, teaching your kid to ride a bike, pushing them off on their first great bike ride, that's one of the great moments of being a father, that's something that us as men, we own.
Clay Nichols: That's right, it's certainly like throwing a baseball or fishing, it's just, it's one of those things we're culturally entitled to as dads, it's like ours, right?
Brad Powell: Yeah. So do you teach your kid how to ride a bike?
Clay Nichols: So that's all for us here at the DadLabs.
Brad Powell: Your kidding, he didn't teach you how to do it.
Clay Nichols: We don't hear.
Brad Powell: Dude, why don't you ride a bike.
Clay Nichols: I don't like running.
Brad Powell: Running, I can see that. May be you want to start riding a bike.
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