Friday, June 5, 2009

Taking Off the Training Wheels

We live on an amazing cul-de-sac in a quiet neighborhood teeming with elementary school aged children. On most days there are about a half dozen kids out riding bikes, playing pick-up hockey, or just doing goofy kid stuff. But last October when my then four-year-old son had his feelings hurt by another boy from down the street, I went into protective daddy mode.

You see five months earlier I bought him his first training-wheeled bike. It was a little big, though, and he had trouble putting both feet on the ground while sitting on it. Still, I thought, it would be ok because he'd have the whole summer to get used to riding with training wheels, and by next spring, when he'd grown a little, I'd take them off.

Well, he "went to town" on his bike. The first day alone he rode for nearly four hours straight - without a break for lunch or the potty, and he continued to ride it every day, faster and better each time. He learned how to pedal standing up, how to make a long skid, and by the end of summer, how to go over a small jump - all on his training wheels. Neighborhood parents kept asking me, "He's doing real well. When are those training wheels coming off?" Each time I stuck to my rationalization about safety, and his feet touching the ground, and not wanting to rush him.

That all changed in those weeks leading up to Halloween when another little boy (also four and NOT on training wheels) blocked the ramp and declared, as only preschoolers can, that boys who were on training wheels were not allowed to go over jumps. My son cried for an hour.

The next day I took off the training wheels.

Much to my surprise, he just started riding. He didn't fall. He hardly even wobbled. It took exactly three minutes for him to learn to ride a real two-wheeled bike. Within thirty minutes, he was racing another girl, standing up on the pedals and skidding to a stop across the imaginary finish line.

Clearly he was ready to ride on two wheels, and apparently had been ready for quite some time. I was the one who was nervous and had been holding him back.

I called my wife and told her to hurry home to bear witness to the new milestone that had been reached. Of course he crashed into her car as soon as she pulled into the driveway. But, he got right back up, and with a slight nudge in the right direction, he was back to riding, and he hasn't stopped since.

For me, and my guess is probably for a lot of you, this past year has also been about taking off those training wheels - exploring the world with a new sense of freedom and opportunity, and providing students with new and exciting ways for them grow and learn. And, as my son proved to me, we've been ready for quite a while.

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