Bad Moms Don’t Force Their Kids To Learn Things

I have three children, two boys and a girl, ages nine, seven, and five. My seven-year-old son has been popping wheelies on his bike since he was three (He’s our Sporto), and my five-year-old daughter mastered the bicycle last year, when she was four. No wheelies, but she can bike without falling. My nine-year-old son … has had zero interest in riding a bike WHATSOEVER.

When we’re at home and his siblings are doing laps around the circular driveway, he’s usually writing stories and illustrating them, or reading, or building monstrous Lego creations that are more intricate that any of the ones that you buy in the store. We’ve tried (half-heartedly) for years to get him to ride his bike. He’d ask to play hockey (because his friends play, not because he loves to play) and we told him to learn to ride his bike first. We offered to pay him cold, hard cash, which he knows the value of, and always wants more of and … nothing.

It’s been a bit of a family joke, and we tease him about it, and that’s been that. I own a bike, but so rarely use it — I’m more of a runner/boot camp girl. My husband doesn’t even own a bike, unless you count the motorcycle (Kawasaki Vulcan) that we share. He’s a runner/gym guy too. It’s not like my son is not active or anything. He’s in soccer, a running club, and we all took up skiing this past winter as a family. He’s healthy, he’s happy, he’s fit. He just couldn’t ride a bike.

Until this week.

My son has a new (girl) friend, who is the sweetest thing ever. She also rides her bike to and from school, and he told me that he confessed to her that he didn’t know how how to ride his bike. She was “OK with it”, apparently. And then, while at the end-of-tax-season party this past Monday, my son called me because he had something exciting to tell me. He had been riding his bike.

Tuesday afternoon after school he kept practicing and was so excited to show me his new skills.

The things we do for (young) love, hey?