It should never have taken this long. I blame myself, really. There were some early missteps, perhaps, but that’s still no excuse.
Until last week, both Thing 1 and Thing 2, ages 8 and 7, could not ride a bike. A couple years ago we had bikes with training wheels, and took them off to try to learn. But they had some falls, got frustrated, and developed an aversion to anything having to do with riding a bike. This was around the time Thing 4 was born, and Thing 3 was a handful and a half, so it was hard to find the time to teach them.
Finally we had to lay down an ultimatum. It was as much an ultimatum for me than for them. I told them kids their age should know how to ride a bike. It’s like swimming, reading, and tying your shoes.
But I was also thinking, dads with kids of a certain age should have already taught them how to ride a bike. Mission accomplished. Two more to go.