can your (almost) 3 yr old pedal?

[pierogigirl]

DS1 can't - not even a trike or his bike with training wheels. We've tried to teach him how, although probably not consistently enough. The little boy next door is so ahead of DS1 in some areas. Tonight he was riding his bike without training wheels. I know it's normal to do things at different times, and I'm sure 3 is early to be riding a bike, but I just wanted a gauge to see if he was really behind (or just progressing on his own normal curve).

DS1 is able to do other things like hop, hit a ball with a bat, etc. Perhaps we just need to get him on the bike more.

[ijack]

She could pedal, she just wouldn't. I think it really varies, we had a friend who was riding a two wheeler at 2.5. But I would guess he should be starting to figure out the mechanics.

[Tea-rific]

I teach Pre-K (4 year olds, the year before they go to K) a lot of them are unable to pedal a tricycle at the beginning of the year. It takes a lot of motor coordination. It is one of our gross motor goals to have them pedaling by the end of the year.

[pierogigirl]

Aug 1, 2012 19:46:21 GMT -5 Tea-rific said:

I teach Pre-K (4 year olds, the year before they go to K) a lot of them are unable to pedal a tricycle at the beginning of the year. It takes a lot of motor coordination. It is one of our gross motor goals to have them pedaling by the end of the year.

OK. Thanks. I talked to his daycare teacher and she said that not all of them could, but their trikes are old and the pedals may be hard to rotate, so she wasn't really sure who could. I teach fifth grade, so I don't have a good sense of toddler gross motor skills.

[mie]

No, she couldn't. It might have been because she just didn't have the exposure to the tricycle.

[moandjo]

DS can, but has a hard time starting when he stops and going up any incline. He just started this summer.

[Deleted]

Nope. She tries. It's pretty funny to watch.

[zeewifeandmama]

Eh, sort of but she is *just* getting interested in trying. She is definitely more "verbal" than "motor" though...

[slug*bug]

I just discovered last week that he can't...or didn't want to, it was hard to tell the difference. Either way, he's not pedaling yet.

The responses to this thread are interesting: DS has been on a balance bike since 2 and we just haven't had a trike or any other ride-on toys with pedals at home, so I figured it was just lack of exposure.

But it sounds like not all 3 year olds are ready to pedal. I think we're probably in that category.

[rootbeerfloat]

DD can, but DS couldn't for a long time, mostly because he refused to even try.

[keh2oblue]

DD got a bike for her b-day in January, but it took her a good 4-5 months to learn how to pedal well.

[whitepicketfence]

It's hit or miss with DD1. I don't think she entirely grasps the concept yet. We just started trying to teach her recently.

[statlerwaldorf]

DD started pedealing just before she turned 3.

[dr.girlfriend]

We didn't start until after 3 just because of the season, but what we did when we started was loop a bungee cord around the handlebars of DS's trike and kind of pull him around on it. This helped to correct his steering and also to get him used to pedaling.

At first he just struggled to keep his feet resting on the pedals, but then he quickly got the hang of it. I know there are trikes with a push-handle on the back that I expect have similar benefit. Once we started, he was pedaling (and mostly steering) on his own a day or two later.

I think part of the problem early on was that when he was solely in charge of steering he was worried about falling over so he wanted his feet handy to the ground. ;-) Once we could correct his steering so that he wouldn't tip over no matter what, it got a lot easier.

[ijack]

Aug 2, 2012 8:28:36 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

We didn't start until after 3 just because of the season, but what we did when we started was loop a bungee cord around the handlebars of DS's trike and kind of pull him around on it. This helped to correct his steering and also to get him used to pedaling.

At first he just struggled to keep his feet resting on the pedals, but then he quickly got the hang of it. I know there are trikes with a push-handle on the back that I expect have similar benefit. Once we started, he was pedaling (and mostly steering) on his own a day or two later.

I think part of the problem early on was that when he was solely in charge of steering he was worried about falling over so he wanted his feet handy to the ground. ;-) Once we could correct his steering so that he wouldn't tip over no matter what, it got a lot easier.

We had one of the push trikes, but DD learned if she didn't pedal someone would just push her. When she turned 4 we made the rule that we wouldn't push her anymore and she immediately "learned" to pedal and mastered her balance bike.

[jojogadget]

Hell be 3 in Sept and nope. He's not exactly advanced though either. He likes to sit down and beg us to push him around on it.

[meandhim]

DS will be 3 in Sept. He's been pedaling for several months. We have a tricycle, pedal 3-wheeler and a bicycle for him and there are tons of pedal toys at his daycare so he gets tons of exposure. It did take him awhile to get the hang of it.