Best way to teach a kid?

Well if he rides a quad like daddy he doesn't need to balance.

I bought a used YZinger and parked it in the garage.....let it sit there and made no effort to make my boys ride it....they could climb on it anytime they wanted. (there were no strider's then)...It took a while but one day they were putting around and soon it was ON!!! They both turned into very skilled riders with out any pressure from me..

So the best way is: Patience

I don't think he can balance it because his little legs can't get enough speed. Try frequenting somewhere with a small slope. Just something to help him get enough speed to balance, nothing crazy, you don't need him to shoot off down a hill, crash and be afraid. After he gets the balancing part down, I would move onto something with peddles and move back to flat ground so he can learn to start/stop and turn. After he gets comfortable on a real bike, then move onto a PW50. I learned with my step son to just open the throttle up. He was struggling to balance the extra weight with it turned down. I opened it up and although it was scary(for me) he actually did better going a little faster. Just be patient, he has plenty of time to ride, no need to rush it. Enjoy the process, he'll be a teen before you know it.

I agree with this.

Start sending him down a grassy hill on that strider. My boys were on bicycles at 2 with no training wheels. Didn't have striders back then, but did have those tiny bikes with training wheels. They would ride around all day in the driveway. I think the peddling promotes balancing more. We had lots of concrete to ride. If you don't have that I think its tougher to learn on gravel.

They race strider bikes at the BMX track in Madison (magnolia ridge bmx). I would say that maybe you start there since 2-1/2 is way too young for a motorcycle. There are a few kids in that class out there and its a nice track. My family just relocated from Brandon, Mississippi to Ashland, Oregon so that's why I know about the track in Mississippi...

Patience. He's only recently learned to stop crapping himself, no reason to rush into riding a motorcycle.

Razor scooters and strider bikes are the best way to get the balance thing down. Once he's able to comfortably ride a bicycle, find a PW or JR 50 without training wheels and have some fun.

Try putting a number plate on the strider, maybe playing cards on the spokes to mimic a motorcycle until he's really ready.

buy him golf clubs....it's cheaper and pays way better... JK..

anyway have fun with it, dirtbiking is fun, dirtbiking with your kids....does not get any better!

See if you can find a video of a Honda beginner dirt bike teaching session online. Youtube etc. They start with the basics that count and re-enforce them as you go. I use their method on all of the beginners I have taught.

DOUG DUBACH – THE ANTI-MINI DAD?

http://motocross.transworld.net/1000159470/features/doug-dubach-anti-mini-dad/

Doug Dubach – The Anti Mini Dad?
By Donn Maeda

We’ve all seen it: a loving family completely transformed by a miniature dirt bike, a starting gate, and a checkered flag. Sure, motocross is a family sport that can provide unlimited enjoyment and a lifetime of memories, but it can also “flick the switch” inside a parent’s head and transform them into “mini parents.”

On a personal level, I’m glad that I have two daughters. Yes, I know that girls ride too, and mine did for several years before their talents in soccer outshone their desires to ride mini bikes. If I had a son, though, the potential to become the mini dad of all mini dads is certainly there. Think about it: I’ve got virtually unlimited access to bikes and parts, and I spend plenty of time riding and racing each week. Swap Jr. would have almost every resource available to him! Would I lose control and become one of those dads who files ridiculous protests at the World Mini, spits on other dads, and yells at his kid for finishing second? I’d like to think not, but I guess we’ll never know. As it is, I’m, perfectly content being a soccer dad and spending my weekends watching Meg and Samy kick the shit out of other girls on the field.

Last week at Milestone MX Park, I pitted next to Doug Dubach and his son, Carter. A former factory rider, Supercross winner, and gazillion-time Vet World Champion, Dubach is a legend in motocross and remains fast enough – in his 50s – to qualify for a 450 National. Though Carter is plenty quick on his KTM 50SX, we’ve never seen Doctor D push his son past his limits or pressure him to follow in his racing footsteps. Our casual conversation between motos about being a parent of a motocross racer was both interesting and inspiring, so I decided to record Doug’s words of wisdom and share them with TWMX readers.

Enjoy!

“This is a subject that runs deep with me because I don’t have just my kid racing; I’ve also got some pretty good athletes within my family. I have one daughter who is hopefully on her way to a full-ride scholarship through soccer and I have another daughter who is a very good softball player, a pitcher. So I think that because of my experience with racing and never having a father figure (my dad was a paraplegic growing up and he only got to see me race twice) I pretty much did it on my own and I never turned what my experience was, into yelling at them. Maybe some parents thought that was the way to treat their kid, but it wasn’t right for me.

“I read a lot of psychology all through my racing career and what I really learned was that the best way to get the most out of a person (we’re talking parent and child here) is to give them positive encouragement. Take something bad that happened and (almost) let it go because kids are going to internalize it. They know that they made a mistake when they fall down the first turn or let a kid pass them on the last lap. Whatever happened, they already know, so, what you do is look at the positives. If they fell on the first lap, compliment their start. If they got passed in the last turn, compliment their whoops speed. Just try to find a positive angle to take, because what you are trying to do is get that kid to understand the enthusiasm that it takes to ride these bikes. I took my kid to some of these Loretta qualifiers over the last several years and the things that I heard around the track made me sick to my stomach. “Little Johnny was better than you.’ ‘You sucked over there.’ ‘You’ll never win if you don’t do that jump.’

“I’ll tell you a little story. One of my first years out at Loretta Lynn’s, I parked next to a family and I heard this kid getting his ass chewed for what sounded like no reason. It was because he didn’t win or because he fell down or whatever; and I remember the second day that I heard it going on I went over there as a friend and said, ‘Hey Buddy, I watched you race and you were really good here, and you were really good there. You need to work on this area,’ and I just started talking to this kid and his dad went silent almost immediately and listened to me talk. By the time I was done with that, his dad thanked me and I think I gave him a whole new perspective of how to treat his kid; but it’s how I would have treated my own kid and that’s positive encouragement. I’m not going to blow smoke up his ass and tell him that he is better than he is, but what I am going to do is allow him to understand that I see the good things he does and let him, through open communication, tell me what he did wrong and then I’ll help him walk through that. Some of the books I have read say you never get in the car after a soccer game and tell your kid anything about it. You say ‘Lets go get an ice cream cone,’ or ‘Lets go have some lunch,’ or whatever, because they will start to open up and that’s the communication that you want; when you guys are both on the same level. You will never get the full potential out of your kids by talking down to them to the point of poking them in the chest.

“I’ll tell you the flipside to that story—I had 10 kids at my motorhome door the next day because that one kid told everyone all the things that I had said and that led into all those seminars that I ended up doing at Loretta’s; they gave me that whole pavilion under the Yamaha tent just to stand there and talk. It is something that means a lot to me because I have kids, and I have kids in sports, maybe not all three in motocross, but they all deal with the same pressures. You get these little league parents and soccer moms that are ruthless. I think a lot of it stems from the lack of success they had in whatever they were after and they want to live through their kid and that is the absolute worst way to go about anything; be it a ball sport or a motorcycle event.

“My mantra is: Treat these kids with a positive attitude and allow them to talk to you because who else are they going to go to? If you shut them down so many times because you have a bitter attitude they aren’t going to have anywhere to go, and eventually they are going to go somewhere else and we all know what bad influences there are out in the world. So keep them close to you, treat them like you would want to be treated in a professional world and you’ll get the most out of your kid. They aren’t all going to be a Carmichael, but at least they will have a good learning experience through their racing.”

Haven't seen that article from Transword before (I don't visit their website much any more), but Mr. Dubach sounds like a wise man and great father. Good stuff.

My youngest was on the YZinger by the time he was 3 1/2. He wanted to ride it so I made a deal with him that if he learned to ride his bike without training wheels (pre-strider) that he could ride the YZinger. 2 days later I was buying riding gear for him lol.

Just remember the golden phrases:
"Go faster or I'll sell your bike" and "Shut up before I give you something to cry about!"

-Kidding-


Actually, I think you're doing the best thing by having him on a Strider. We got my son one of those for his 2nd birthday, then a pedal bike for his 3rd. Now, a year later, he's on a PW50 and learning how to control it. He is awesome on the balance but a little bit scared of cornering. No problem, he'll get there. Your son will too. Just provide loving advice and enjoy the day out with your kid!

Strider bike and then a PW50 Yamaha. Also some two up on a Honda 50 to give him some idea about throttle control. You will be amazed how fast a kid passionate about motorcycles progresses.

IMO let him keep riding the strider until he's big enough, in the meantime give him and occasional spin on your bike to keep him satisfied...

Looks like lots of good advice here. You might want to pick up Earl Woods' book 'Making a Tiger'.

When my youngest son was 3 he started wanting a dirt bike like his older brother. We told him when he could ride his bike with no training wheels we'd get him one. No striders back then.

Taught him to ride ride the old fashion way. Our back yard was slightly sloped, so I would just give him a gentle push and tell him to pedal. He fell a few times but quickly caught on. Pretty much the same way my Dad taught me. Some things don't change. Not rocket science. lol

But I do think a child should be able to ride a bike before they throw a leg over a dirt bike.

Oh yeah and by the way, start him on a pw-50. Perfect beginner bike

I can think of at least two top pro riders that I have stories about being beat at the track as kids.(for underperforming).

There is a dark side to this sport with this kind of crap. Fact is, every sport has it.

My Grandaughter all of a sudden out of the blue asked me when she was 5 years old old, I went and got it and with no pressure she became a pretty good rider..




The Grandson after a couple of rides at the track said he needed more power and some jumps...The Grandson at work...

My son isn't super into it, but he does like riding around the yard and is wanting to get into bmx. I absolutely agree with the guy about opening the throttle up enough so they can actually keep their balance. What I did (yes I know it's kinda silly) is tie a rope to the bar underneath the rear fender and I held the other end of the rope so he couldn't get too far out of control with the open throttle. It taught him how to do it all on his own and he was riding on his own in about 30 minutes. Not to mention, the better he got let me burn some calories chasing him around, haha. Like I said, I know it's silly but it worked

In the same boat here. My son turned 2 on Tuesday. He loves watching supercross, loves to sit on daddy's 450, and loves cruising our yard on the old Z50 in my lap. He walks his strider around in between his legs but hasnt adapted to sitting on it and balancing. Im going to give the subtle slope advice a try. My front yard has a minor pitch to it. Lots of fun times ahead boys!

That worked for both of our sons. Although they're all grown now the memories of teaching them to ride a bike for the first time are priceless.
Now I have a new grandson I'll probably doing the same thing with when he gets old enough. His Dad's not the athletic type, so It'll probably be up to me. Hopefully he might want to ride a dirt bike at some point.
Anyway, I agree with others here. Give them options and let them pick their own path.

im happy to say that my dad followed DR.D's instructions to a tee. i never remember him yelling or even being slightly disappointed after a bad race, he'd just ask me what happened and what i think i could do better on, then give me some advice based on what he saw

Its also a huge advantage that he used to be a pretty damn good racer himself, he understands whats going through my head after a bad race because hes been there done that

In the rural areas we had 4H. The community group taught mainly rural farm kids skills. These skills were to be knowledgeable in Beef, Woodworking, etc. The 4H Motto: "Learn to Do by Doing".