Working on Bike Skills

We were given a free, beat-up old bike for Eva this spring.

Although she is exceedingly cautious and unmotivated, I think she might learn to ride a bike by the end of the summer. In the meantime, I have more than made up for her leery approach with my giddy excitement for this new stage of independent adventure. Eva and I are similar on so many accounts, but this is an area where we totally diverge. I learned to ride a bike at the age of four in one crash-and-burn afternoon. At age five I found some BMX tracks with fun little dirt "bumps" in an empty lot near our house and never looked back. On the other hand, Eva will not fall... refuses to risk pain... will not relinquish control, even if it means she will never experience the adrenaline rush of a downhill joy ride. If she can't calculate her approach and strategize a successful outcome, it may never happen. I can already pretty much say "forget about it" in reference to "Look ma! No hands!" On the bright side, she happily dons her shiny purple helmet for each outing. Differences aside, we sure are having FUN learning!