Sarah Mansel wrote:
I am keen on the use of bikes as a means of transport, and would very much
like my children to learn to ride soon. My younger child has just about got
the hang of riding a bike without stabilisers and now needs to gain
confidence - she is 5. My son is too nervous to even ride a bike with
stabilisers - he is 7.
For the past few years we have used a Burley trailer and have now progressed
to a U+2, but he will soon outgrow that too.
We have read about techniques for teaching your child to ride a bike, but
they all assume that your child will let you run alongside them holding them
up. He is too nervous to go fast enough to even attempt to balance for a
microsecond. Has anyone got any ideas!

The good old standard. Pedals off, saddle down so he can sit on the saddle
with both feet on the ground then scoot it along. As he gets more confident
his feet will spend less and less time on the ground until he's rolling along
with his feet up. Then put the pedals back on and let him coast with his feet
on the pedals until he is ready to try turning them

Tony