Thursday, September 23, 2021
5 BENEFITS OF PUSHBIKE/BALANCE BIKE - A WORTHY INVESTMENT FOR MY CHILDREN
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْم
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
"What kind of bicycle is that?"
"How can he ride it without pedals and brakes?"
"OMG! No pedals and brakes? Is that even a bicycle?"
*staring at my son and his pushbike with a VERY confuse face*
Those were the sentences and facial expressions that I got whenever my son and I had our time at the park where he will leisurely ride his pushbike. No, I am NOT offended. I understood their confusion and maybe there were many questions popped inside their brain and hoping someone to answer them 😁 I am happy and willing to do so but unfortunately, no one was asking. Never mind, some other time maybe.
So, what exactly is a pushbike anyway?
Pushbike is basically a bicycle with pedal-free and brake-free. They will use both of their feet to move the bike, control the speed, balance themselves and brake using their feet slowly. A pushbike is also good for balancing and stability while riding.
When I first heard about it from my husband, I frowned and didn't have that much trust and interest in it. However, I didn't disagree right away, I made time to do some research on articles and read about the benefits of it before agreeing to buy a pushbike for my son. These are amongst some of the articles that talks about pushbike and the benefits of it:
I felt awkward at first maybe because the culture of a pushbike is not widely known in the Malaysian culture. We usually use the tricycle where there are two training wheels that will support them. My friend once shared this when she stayed in the UK for some time where she has seen the culture of using pushbike there was widely used amongst the toddlers.
Due to that, my perspectives have changed after researching, reading and sharing from my friends and others on pushbike. I thought that this will be good as the training wheels can somehow support them for a period of time but once they are taken off, the kids might be scared or not confident to ride the bicycle straight away due to the inability to balance themselves.
This definitely hits home where I reminisced my time when I learned to ride my bicycle with my father. We practiced non-stop at an alley of our home and I remembered that I fall most of the times and I got scarred and bruises due to the falling. I cried tons that day too! I could recall how scared I was because I couldn't balance myself and I was not confident to ride without falling.
I knew my husband and I made the right decision of buying him a pushbike instead of a tricycle because we could see all the positive improvements/outcomes just like what have been stated by some of the articles that I have read. My son started to learn and ride a pushbike at the age of 4 (pre-school).
Here are the improvements that I could see on my son after riding a pushbike for 2 years and a half now:
1. His Enjoyment and Excitement
A pushbike is surprisingly so easy to use as it only has tires and a handle. The rest is up to the body to control and move the bicycle according to your own speed and balance. Purnama enjoys himself in exploring the pushbike and he can move it all he wants freely without any obstacles (such as training wheels). Whenever he wants to ride his pushbike, he always has this excitement on his face to ride the bike and see what kind of road is he going to explore that day.
2. His Confidence & Balance
In one of the article, it says, riding a pushbike helps to boost confidence and balance. I can clearly see that on my son where his confidence now as compared to when he first started riding it has increased 100%. He sometimes confidently and proudly showed me some of his freestyle moves. That is why riding a pushbike also requires a wide and spacious space for the kids. I can also say that his balance, while riding the pushbike has immensely made him look like a pro. He is not scared at all of falling as compared to his first time. This is because the pushbike is much closer to the ground and it has low impact on the child if they were to fall on their first time using it.
3. His Development in Motor Planning, Spatial Awareness & Vestibular System
I read on the articles beforehand prior to buying the pushbike and would love to see how it will grow on my son. Fortunately and positively, my son has achieved these three developments and I can smile widely knowing how affective the pushbike to him.
Motor Planning is the ability to turn corners and Fateh is able to turn even on the most curved and challenging ones. I believe with a pedal-free and brake-free have allowed my son to freely control the bike with his body, feet and balancing altogether have made him to be able to turn to any corners safely and with proper speed.
Meanwhile,
Spatial Awareness is the ability to learn how to avoid obstacles. Again, I couldn't agree more with this as I personally see how Purnama is able to control the speed and to calculate when he should slowly slow down using his feet to avoid any obstacles seen in front of him. I truly didn't regret and encourage parents to buy this for their children. The level of freedom while being in control of the bicycle is something that our children need to learn. It teaches them to be in control of whatever that they have (responsibility/things they own) at the moment (example, the pushbike).
On the other hand,
Vestibular System is the ability to learn how to balance and move. For me, personally, this is what a pushbike is all about. It is about how the kids learn to balance themselves because there is no training wheels that are going to help them. Apart from that, they need to learn how to move and use the feet and body as they are no brakes and pedals to help them to do so. It allows them to use their ability to take full control of their body and to think fast on how to work around the pushbike.
This is definitely an investment that I believe gives a lot more positivity, skills and knowledge for our children to learn on their own with our guidance. Above all, it allows them to have fun!
4. He Is Skipping the Training Wheels
Once your kid has mastered on the balancing, moving, avoiding obstacles, turning corners and many more, they can easily change to a normal bicycle in no time. I believe there will be struggles at first in the transition of changing to a normal bicycle. However, due to the full control and balance that they have gained firsthand with the pushbike, I believe they will do well and able to adapt faster.
5. Us, Parents Can Bring It Everywhere!
A pushbike is so small as it measures your children's height and weight when you want to purchase one so it only take a small space in your car boot to bring it anywhere. During pre-covid, whenever we want to travel back to our hometown, we will surely bring his pushbike ever since he was 4. So convenient and will definitely make our children happy!
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| His pushbike is his best friend. My son at 5 years old. |
I am happy that my son is able to experience things that I never get to do. I am excited to see his improvements in doing what he likes and to be able to see the growth alongside him. We allow our son, Purnama to explore his hobbies, likings and interest and try our best to accommodate to him by giving him full support and guidance. May he grow to be a healthy, active, upright and righteous son who can benefit others for Allah's sake inshaaAllah.
Remember not to only purchase the pushbike, but to also buy all the gears, kneepad, elbow pad and a bicycle helmet for first timers. They will REALLY need it. We always bring the gear just in case and to ensure the safety of our children first.
Thank you for your time reading. InshaaAllah see you in the next post!
Love always,
AliahMazli
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Salam !
Writing is a way that I can express myself and be connected with other people. Thank you for taking some of your time here--my blog, my space. I hope you benefit something from it.
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