{"id":6779,"date":"2017-06-26T06:56:16","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T12:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=6779"},"modified":"2017-06-26T10:23:57","modified_gmt":"2017-06-26T16:23:57","slug":"re-adjusting-metaphorical-training-wheels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/06\/re-adjusting-metaphorical-training-wheels.html","title":{"rendered":"Re-adjusting the metaphorical training wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"from<\/p>\n

Did your children learn to ride their bikes with training wheels?<\/p>\n

As I recall, my sister had training wheels, but when my parents bought a bike for me, they decided on one that would last further into childhood, even though it didn\u2019t have training wheels. \u00a0Dad then did the ol\u2019 \u201chold the kid on the bike while running alongside\u201d approach. \u00a0Now, I have no idea how long it took to learn, though it was presumably far less time than the typical kid with training wheels, where it seems that the training wheels stay on the bike for years.<\/p>\n

Our own kids learned by starting off with, for our oldest, a two-wheeled scooter, and, for the other two, a balance bike \u2014 for the middle one, this was while we lived in Germany, where it\u2019s now the norm, called a \u201cLaufrad\u201d (literally \u201cwalk-wheel\u201d \u2013 a play on \u201cFahrrad\u201d, or bicycle, where the \u201cfahr\u201d is also the root for \u201cfahren\u201d or \u201cto go\/to ride\u201d); for the youngest, we just brought the laufrad back to the U.S. with us. \u00a0The balance bike seems to have made in-roads in bike riding-learning in the US, too, though it doesn\u2019t seem to have replaced training wheels as the norm.<\/p>\n

But \u201ctraining wheels\u201d has become a metaphor for the various ways in which young people learn to accomplish the tasks of adulthood \u2014 or, rather, it seems to me that it\u2019s being used in a negative sort of way. \u00a0\u201cWe have to be willing to take the training wheels off\u201d means that we need to be willing to let the kids fail at their endeavors so as to truly learn to manage to succeed in the long run.<\/p>\n

And not long ago, I discovered that my own understanding of how literal training wheels work was wrong. \u00a0I had figured that the point of training wheels was merely to learn to pedal, and beyond that, there was little use except to give the kid the feeling of riding a bike \u201clike big kids\u201d where in reality the purpose was for the family to be able to go out on a walk, with the preschooler able to keep pace, on the training wheeled-bike, with the adults, rather than, if he was on foot, whining that he was too tired and mom and dad should slow down.<\/p>\n

After all, that seems to be how everyone I see uses them.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s what \u201cTeaching Kids to Ride<\/a>\u201d has to say:<\/p>\n

Most people that use training wheels have them adjusted incorrectly. The bike should always have a little bit of lean. If both training wheels can touch the ground at once, there is little weight on the bicycle\u2019s rear wheel. This can reduce traction to zero. On uneven ground, the child may get stuck because the wheel spins. Even worse, the brake may become useless. When the bike is new, there should be only a small amount of tilt from one side to the other.<\/p>\n

After the child has become accustomed to pedaling, steering and braking, the training wheels should be raised slightly, a bit at a time. It is probably better to do this without telling the child, who may object. The bike will become more and more tippy, and the child will learn to balance automatically with practice. As the child becomes more adept the bike will spend more and more time with both training wheels off the ground. The day will come when it is obvious that the training wheels are no longer doing anything, and they can be removed.<\/p>\n

If the training wheels are left set on their lowest position, the bike is in effect an oversized tricycle, and some kids spend two or three years on training wheels as a result. This is not only a waste of their time, it is really quite dangerous as they learn to ride faster and faster, because of the poor cornering and braking of a training-wheel equipped bike.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, it seems to me that our apparent collective failure to understand how to use literal training wheels is not that different than the figurative training wheels we\u2019ve created for teenagers and young adults. \u00a0Teens have parents hovering over them to ensure that their homework is completed on time, and then (reportedly) insist that the school give them a pass if they blow an assignment. \u00a0Those same parents micromanage the college application process, and (again, reportedly) (attempt to) intervene when they experience difficulties in college. \u00a0And colleges offer their own training wheels, from free tutoring and tech support to the ways in which they\u2019re prodded to make healthy eating choices and exercise regularly. \u00a0After college, for increasingly many students, the training wheels stay on, as reports are that, among those who can afford it (and many who can\u2019t, but don\u2019t recognize the fact), they children continue to live at home or receive subsidies from Mom and Dad.<\/p>\n

But if those training wheels don\u2019t help the trainee progress, then there\u2019s not much value in them \u2014 they only provide the appearance of progress.<\/p>\n

Now, some training wheels we tend to get right. \u00a0So far as I know, at least, American parents tend to let their kids stay at home alone for progressively longer periods, rather than keeping them under the watchful eyes of babysitters until they leave for college. \u00a0Many states have instituted \u201ctraining wheels\u201d for driving, with restrictions on times of day and numbers of passengers being gradually lifted.<\/p>\n

But, on the other hand, consider the university cafeteria. \u00a0This is supposed to be \u00a0\u201ctraining wheel\u201d stage of life. \u00a0But, however much parents might have encouraged their offspring to get experience with cooking (my oldest is still at the mac & cheese-making stage; we still have to work on meat & vegetables), once they move on to college, they lose this experience entirely. \u00a0What\u2019s more, back in my day (yes, I know, I sound like an old lady), you were at least responsible for your own Sunday dinner and late night snacks. \u00a0Now the trend seems to be to move to not just an all-you-can-eat format, but an\u00a0unlimited \u201cwhenever you want to eat\u201d format \u2014 not just at private universities like Marquette, but even at my (state school) alma mater<\/a>!, where the cheapest option includes unlimited food from 7 am \u2013 12 am, and works out to $25\/day, assuming 15 weeks of classes plus finals. \u00a0What\u2019s more,\u00a0the endless variety, and the emphasis on restaurant-quality meals, means that there\u2019s not any reason to eat any meals elsewhere. \u00a0Which means that, however much there might be all manner of signage encouraging students to watch what they eat, the training wheels are being left set on their lowest position, until the students leave campus and have them removed completely, know nothing about how to prepare healthy and economical meals for themselves, and the \u201cgrown-ups\u201d moan that the kids are not prepared for the \u201creal world.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, in the end, just as a balance bike works far better than training wheels, so, too, many of the metaphorical training wheels we\u2019ve built, shouldn\u2019t be used at all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

from flickr: https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dottiemae\/5393326849<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did your children learn to ride their bikes with training wheels? As I recall, my sister had training wheels, but when my parents bought a bike for me, they decided on one that would last further into childhood, even though it didn\u2019t have training wheels. \u00a0Dad then did the ol\u2019 \u201chold the kid on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":6785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRe-adjusting the metaphorical training wheels<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did your children learn to ride their bikes with training wheels? 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