Rad!

Do you remember the 80's film Rad. It is one of the treasures of my childhood.  It still isn't available on DVD but is kind of in the Cloud.  I watched this movie on Sunday morning with my girls.  It was a horrible vhs transfer on youtube.  My youngest absolutely loved it.  Just like it did with me, thinking about the movie got her really amped up and while we were out shopping she was ready to come home and take off the training wheels. 

We got home, I took of the training wheels and started pushing her to the park so she could practice in the grass and on the basketball courts.  We got to the park and I gave her a push on the grass and off she went until the grass slowed her down and she stopped.  I did it once more and she insisted that we move to the asphalt.  Once there, she was off to the races.  She worked on stopping and putting her feet down only after she stopped.  Yesterday, my wife and her sister went with her and worked on starting on her own. 

The reward was seeing the excitement in her eyes when she did it.  She was clapping for herself when she stopped and had the biggest, purest grin ever.  Oddly she is one of the only kids in her first grade class that can ride without training wheels.  What the heck are parents doing? 

In conclusion, teaching kids how to ride a bike is easy.  Just let the child watch Rad and if you want to make 100% sure, buy them a Rad Racing t-shirt (proceeds go towards sponsoring Cru Jones at Hell Track). 

The oldest wants pegs on her bike, when I told her bolts were not long enough she decided she needs a new bike.