It's (just) a balancing act

It's my dream to see Grant ride his bike, on his own, and enjoy it. Nobody else, including Grant, shares this fervent dream of mine. Why do I desire this?

1. I want to see my son ride his bike. It's my dream. It's selfish. I admit it. But I'm not backing down.
2. Just behind that reason, I want us to ride bikes as a family. All 5 of us, just riding for the enjoyment of riding. Once again, my dream.
3. In the unselfish dept., I want him to be ready if and when he ever desires to hang around with other kids. His bike will be his pass into the camaraderie.

Grant and I have been working on this for 5 years now. I can't even believe it's been that long. I've been married 15 years. I've been out of high school for 20 years. But nothing seems longer than these 5 years of bike training. Very few things have been more challenging.

At 2 years old, not longer after he changed, we would spend short periods of time just getting him to realize what he was doing. Short periods, because his attention span for this activity was very short indeed. Put your feet on the pedals, put your hands on the handlebars, look ahead. Honestly, it was easily a year before he had that mastered. The bigger issue, and that which continues to be an issue, is his focus. Originally, his focus was anywhere except on what he was doing. Anything - the wind, the flowers, the plane overhead, some sound I can't hear - would distract him from moving his feet and realizing that he was moving forward.

I could write pages and pages about our biking times together, unfortunately that would result in you immediately clicking to another page, and we don't want that!

Around 5 years old, with his training wheels moved all the way up, he seemed to have the balance for two wheels. Clearly, he wouldn't be able to do it by himself yet, but he could begin to learn. He got a big boy bike w/o training wheels, and my dream seemed to be turning into reality. It wasn't too long before he figured out the balance and knew that as long as I was holding the bike he didn't have to be scared.

At 6, he really hit his stride. He didn't mind me letting go of the bike and he was able to ride for 30-40 yards all by himself. The joy! And not just me, he was really starting to enjoy riding his bike (no, really!). But alas, that was our peak, and we haven't been close to it since. It lasted for a couple of months, and now he won't ride by himself any longer. He doesn't pedal consistently enough to keep the bike safely upright on his own. Something about me letting go just freaks him out, and he won't stand for it.

So we continue. As much as we can, we get Grant on his bike and he goes, with me walking/running alongside holding on to his bike. I'm convinced that he learns something with each ride. I know that he will ride on his own again. I believe that he will ride unassisted with us as a family, someday. I hope that he will ride with friends, to have fun. I will work with him until it happens.

It's my dream.