A mum has taken to social media to share a slightly odd but absolutely genius parenting hack that will have your kids riding their bike without training wheels in no time- and all you need is a towel!
As your children grow up, hitting all the various stages of their development, there are certain milestones that act as a rite of passage. None is so big, it feels, as a child learning to ride a bike and getting off those training wheels to run, or ride, free.
Bike riding is great exercise for kids, but it can be scary to leave them on a mere two wheels and just hope they don't crash. But one mum has now shared a brilliant hack to help kids gain confidence while learning to ride and it's a bit unconventional but we love it.
Taking to Instagram, Caitlin B, who is known on Instagram as Caitdallas, shared a video of her son learning to ride a bike while she used a towel - yes, a towel! - to help him balance and build his confidence without training wheels.
In the video, Caitlin explains, "What you do is you get your beach towel and you put it up underneath their arms and you hold them up. You hold onto the towel to support them and the more practice, the more slack you leave on the towel until they gain the confidence to do it by themselves. And eventually, you don't even need a towel anymore!"
While she's speaking, Caitlin folds the towel to make it thinner in width and then places it across her child's chest and up under their arms, looping the ends round their back to hold onto them, creating a sort of lead holding them in place.
In the caption of the video, which sees her son ride off into the distance with a tonne of confidence, Caitlin added, "This towel trick really helped build his confidence that he was capable of doing it and just offered a little bit of extra security for him in the beginning."
Parents were quick to fill the comments with their own success stories and thanks for Caitlin's hack. "I just tried it today with my eight-year-old who has been lacking in confidence and all it took was 30 minutes with the towel and she’s riding all on her own," one parent wrote, while another added, "You are a life saver, I’ve been trying to teach my kid unsuccessfully!"
Many commenters were quick to point out that the hack is also a great one for teaching toddlers how to walk. You secure the supportive towel in the exact same way as Caitlin shows in her video, and use it to help take off much of the child's weight as they stand.
"Thats how I taught my daughter to walk," commented one user, with another adding back, "I used a towel to help support my son as he learned how to walk and it's such a great idea for learning to ride a bike! I'm definitely trying this out!"
In other family news, here are 5 easy ways to let children take risks (without your anxiety going through the roof) and 5 tips on how to teach kids emotional intelligence, as well as why telling your kids white lies to spare their feelings could backfire, according to science.
