Last summer, my daughter just straight up told me she could ride without training wheels. And don't touch the bike, daddy. She can ride without any help.
To this day, I have no idea what triggered this in her.
I obliged.
Predictably, she fell.
Repeatedly.
I tried to help, she refused.
She ultimately decided that biking was "too hard".
She was scared of (falling off of) her bike for a year.
I tried to help her overcome her fear of the bicycle. She was inconsolable.
Today, she conquered that fear. I put my hands on her shoulders, I told her to "mash that pedal down, then put your foot on the other pedal, and then mash it down too!"
Once she got some speed up, I took my hands off her shoulders. When she realized I wasn't holding her up, she would stop and look back.
I explained she rode all that distance by herself.
I told her she can start without my hands on her shoulders.
This time, she believed me.
To this moment, I have no idea what triggered that in her.
She pedaled her bike all by herself. She declared "The bike is so easy!" so many times this afternoon, it makes a bike dad's heart a-flutter!
She is already making plans to go on a "long ride" to Dairy Queen.
4 miles is a "long ride" when you're six years old. It'll be broken in half by ice cream, so it won't be that bad.
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