08/21/2026
Julian rode a bike by himself this weekend, and I'm so proud of him!
He's three and a half, and he's never used training wheels. He went from a balance bike straight to pedals, which I'd recommend to any parent still deciding between the two — the balance bike teaches the hard part first. Once they can stay upright, pedaling is the easy bit you add on later.
You can hear me on the video losing it a little.
About four seconds later, a completely different feeling showed up.
This is the first real independence he's had on wheels. I spend my working life with people whose worst day happened on a road, so I see the other version of this story constantly. It's made me a much more cautious dad than I might otherwise be.
I've made peace with that. You want them free and you want them safe, and from the day they can move on their own those two things pull against each other. I don't think it ever fully resolves. You just hold both at once and keep showing up to the parking lot.
For now, he's stuck with me by his side trying to keep him safe, at least for a few more years!
One thing worth passing along if you're helmet shopping — get one with MIPS. It's about twenty dollars more than the helmet next to it on the shelf and worth every one of them.
Balance bike or training wheels? Curious what worked for yours.
