My youngest daughter is nearly an adult. I’m now balancing teaching her to drive and teaching her to ride her bike. The “how” is the easy part. The “which for when” is harder. She doesn’t have the love of cycling that I do, but she does want to go places that aren’t convenient to walk, and she doesn’t yet have a car or a driver’s license. She could really use the exercise, but anytime I bring that up, I’m “being mean”.
I’ve lost nearly 100 lbs with my lifestyle change. She doesn’t yet need to lose that amount, but thinks she can’t lose any weight.
I try not to be too heavy-handed. She will be 18 next month. She doesn’t like to wear a helmet. There are no helmet laws here, so I don’t make her. I don’t forbid her from eating certain foods, I just try to encourage her to choose the healthy ones. (I don’t always make the smart choice myself.)
I really wish I had fallen in love with cycling earlier, and could have exposed her to it before now. If she had grown up riding her bike for transportation instead of riding in a car for every 1/2 mile trip, I wouldn’t be struggling with her as much as I am now.
“I really wish I had fallen in love with cycling earlier, and could have exposed her to it before now. If she had grown up riding her bike for transportation instead of riding in a car for every 1/2 mile trip, I wouldn’t be struggling with her as much as I am now.”
Yeah you would. Don’t beat yourself up. I first started cycling when my oldest was six, and my youngest was two. I raised them around bikes, and bought them nice, fairly expensive bike shop bikes. Today they are 23, 21, and 19, and we still own all three Trek bikes. But they are hanging in the garage, and are rarely taken out. I have kept the bikes, even though people have offered to buy them from me, because I figure that one day they will catch on, and want to ride a decent bicycle.
Just keep encouraging her a little, and set the example. She will figure it out one day.
You’re probably right. It’s just frustrating.