First Things First: Teach Your Child Bike Safety

Riding a bike can be a wonderful experience for every child, offering fun, freedom and fitness. It develops a child's self-confidence and sense of accomplishment. Like most activities with such great reward, there is also the risk of injury. Teaching your child the fundamentals of bike safety is an important step in the process of learning to ride a bike.

Sixty percent of all bike related fatalities that involve young bike riders are head injuries. Children may resist wearing a helmet but parents must stand firm on this. One way to make this less of a fight, is to allow them to pick out the helmet themselves. A loving reminder that wearing a helmet is as much for you as for them, a guarantee they'll be around for a long time, doesn't hurt either. Finally, stand firm. No helmet means no bike. End of story.

For kids ten and under, most cycling accidents are caused by some lapse in judgment or loss of concentration. Kids injure themselves running into stationary objects like parked cars or mailboxes. They collide into each other or ride off the curb. Stress that being alert is even more important than wearing their helmet and riding safely matters. Let them know you are proud of their ability to make good decisions and ask them to be a leader when they are riding with friends.

As you grant new freedom for your child to roam on their bicycle, take the time to walk them through the new areas they'll be allowed to ride. Point out danger spots; parked cars that obscure vision, busy traffic areas, steep hills and ask them to explain how they will handle each situation.

For most adults, recognizing and reacting to traffic signs and rules is second nature, but we sometimes forget that kids have not taken driver's education classes. Teach your kids which direction to ride, how to negotiate intersections and the meaning of the traffic signs in their riding zone.

While you are driving along with your children in the car, check to see if they can explain the traffic signs and talk to them about what they would do in the event they were on their bicycle rather than in the vehicle. Clearly show illustrations of motorists who are not paying adequate attention and use that to show the significance of keeping alert.

Learning to ride a bicycle comes down to one fundamental skill - balance. Many experts recommend an approach that does not use training wheels. This has been the method in Europe for some time where many children learn to ride using a balance bike which has no pedals, chain or sprockets and is powered by the child's feet.

When teaching your child to ride, put the focus on balance, not pedaling. If you don't have a balance bike, remove the pedals, lower the seat as low as it will go and let the child to test out their balance by walking the bike.

As they start to learn their balance, shift them to the top of a gradual incline and let them coast down the hill, skimming their feet on the ground as they ride. This can speed up the learning process and help the health of your back because you will not end up being the person constantly pushing the bicycle all over the neighborhood.

It's important to ensure that your son or daughter's bike is always in excellent, working condition. Check the brakes, both back and front. Brakes may degrade fairly quickly when used often and children have a way of improvising stops whenever they do. This might lead to a fast deterioration of tennis shoes as they become the main braking mechanism.

Check the tire pressure and rotation. Make certain all the spokes are intact and the gears and gear shifters are functioning. Check the seat, handlebars and tires to ensure nothing is loose.

Riding together is the perfect way to practice bike safety and its a lot of fun. Get out there and ride today!