Fighting for Fun
It's a tough thing to be a parent. You're often given the unenviable task of trying to reason with kids about why they need to do something that is good for them but unpleasant. For example, getting vaccines, eating broccoli, or going to bed -- ever.
However there's another side to this that's even more annoying. It's when you have to convince a kid to do something that is either good for them or something they would enjoy and not unpleasant, but they still don't want to do it.
Enter the bike. So far, with the two oldests, this has been a battle from age two to almost four. They get a bike but then refuse to use it or don't try to pedal even once they're on it. I've heard every excuse in the book. The pedals don't work. The seat is too high. The seat is too low. I'm more of a “walker” than a “rider”.
It's frustrating because as a parent I know riding a bike is something they will definitely enjoy. The 5-year-old came around to bike riding a while back and has provided a good example of the fun of bike riding for the 3-year-old. However is wasn’t enough to convince him to give it a whole-hearted try.
The 3-year-old would maintain his shiny, brand new bike, "is not working." I finally gave up trying to encourage him to ride it and one afternoon he just hopped on and took off.
Once he finally came around, within two days, he was zipping up and down the sidewalk. Careening around the sidewalk is probably more accurate.
I suppose I should take this as a lesson about the futility of trying to force my kids to do something fun that they don’t want to do. But I won’t. I mean, I’ll think about the lesson I learned and apply it to certain things, but in general, and especially with the things I know they’ll enjoy, I’m going to try to convince them to take part.
How could I not? If I know swimming in the creek, or running through the sprinklers, or eating green popsicles are some of the greatest unadulterated pleasures of childhood, how can I do anything but try to convince them to take part?
I guess what they say is true: youth is wasted on the young. And awesome bicycles too.