Passing the Torch

Everyone is familiar with the phrase "It's as easy as riding a bike".   However, a dad teaching their child how to ride a bike for the first time might understand this phrase a bit more than others.  I will always remember when my dad took me to learn how to pedal. We went to the local park to learn how to ride without training wheels.  I sat on top of a hill, that by child standards was the equivalent of the Olympic ski jump, but in reality it was a little bump in the park landscaping.  Knees wobbling, I would coast down the grass hill, death grip on the handlebars, trying to steer while learning to brake.  I can't recount how many times I crashed.  We stayed at that park all day long and he never gave up on me.  It didn't matter how many times I fell, he just kept encouraging me that I could do it.

Nutcase helmet, kids helmet, baby helmet strider kickbikeOnce I finally got the hang of it and pedaled away, you could base the huge sense of accomplishment by the gigantic smile on my face.  Never had I felt such a freedom, breeze on my face and the grass zooming by.

So as Father's Day is right around the corner, it caused me time to pause and reflect.  Maybe we say the term "It's as easy as riding a bike" because when a child learns to ride a bike for the first time, it's really the first time we, as parents let go and let our children experience failure, albeit at the cost of a scuffed knee.  It's also one of the first times they learn the sense of accomplishing something so free and liberating as pedaling a bike.

 

 

 

In honor of Father's Day, if it wasn't for you dad, I might never have known the joy and freedom of riding a bicycle.