The Lonely Bicycle
/
The Lonely Bicylce
Why does this post just have a picture of a bicycle without a cute little G atop it you may ask? It’s because this is this bikes natural state. It lives a solitary life in my home. It sits in a corner all by itself as if it is being punished, but it has done no wrong. Is the Typical Dad too lazy to take the bike and its boy to the park to ride? Maybe, but it would change nothing. There is no happy child and bicycle freedom story here.
G simply will not ride his bike, nor the tricycle before it. And what a beautiful tricycle. A classic Radio Flyer Retro red model. A standard for generations. When we bought it, the beauty was too big for him, so we thought that was the reason that he would not ride it. We were wrong.
Apparently, the issue is that pedaling is difficult. And my son, as wonderful as he is, does not like to do things that he finds difficult. I know where he gets it from, but I try not to dwell on that. Fortunately, most things come fairly easily to him. I taught him simple addition using his fingers in minutes. Subtraction took only a little longer. He still needs an occasional reminder to do this effectively, but it is not difficult for him. He knew pretty much every animal that we could think of by 2. Most dinosaurs by 3. I know it sounds like I am just a bragging parent at this point, but most of this comes easily to him.
But not everything does, so he avoids those things. He loves video games, but if there is a hard section he wants me to take over and do it while he watches. He struggles with writing, mostly the coordination, so it is difficult to get him to practice. It’s frustrating as a parent sometimes watching this. I want to say he is lazy, but that is only partly true. He is simply like most of us. He would rather do something he is good at than something which he is not. It’s ok. We will try to challenge him without pushing him too hard. It is a balancing act that all parents struggle with. Sometimes we will push him too hard. Sometimes not enough. Occasionally, we will get it just right. He’s a wonderful little boy, but his bike sure is lonely.