Tonight when my husband picked me up from work he told me something that was simply astounding- my four year old son rode his bike with no training wheels.
From what my husband said, it was a completely random event. My son went up to my husband acting like a little brat and said he didn't want training wheels on his bike anymore. My husband said fine, you want no training wheels so you'll get no training wheels thinking that my son would be begging to have them put back on.
Well, the next thing my husband knew, my son was riding down the street on two wheels. I guess everyone, including the neighbors, were slack-jawed and couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Let me tell you something- my son possesses no special athletic abilities and honestly seems a bit clumsy sometimes. The fact that he did this was so out of left field that I don't think I will fully grasp it until I actually see him do it (and yes, I did almost start crying when my husband told me what happened because my little baby is growing up way too fast and because I was so proud of him for doing something on his own).
Now, I know some parents would be patting themselves on the back for something like this. What great parents we must be for having a child who did something so cool. You know what- those kind of parents are mentally challenged. I feel no responsibility for my son riding his bike. The only thing we did was let him ride his balance bike in the house all last winter, any skills he learned were purely on his own merit. I am more of a step back and let the kids do what they are going to do parent (when it comes to learning) than a hovering parent who tries to push things on them.
Now in my head I am going to balance my son's amazing bike riding abilities with the fact that he tried to take a dump in my neighbor's yard last week...
