In our last article we began a series of posts that will explore the wonderful benefits of balance bikes for toddlers. Our first article focused on the physical benefits. Today, we ride a little further down the road and reflect upon the social and emotional benefits that riding a balance bike can provide for your child.
If your little one is at the age and stage in their development where they are ready to begin riding a balance bike, then their social and emotional maturation is primed for the genuine and unique interactions that a balance bike will provide.
Balance bike – the benefits are amazing!
First up, we look at how balance bikes can help develop a greater sense of personal control.
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Independence and Autonomy
During the exciting pre-school years children are just beginning to gain a little more independence. They are starting to perform basic tasks on their own, and quite often as any parent knows, demand to complete these tasks unescorted. They are fundamentally beginning to make decisions for themselves.
By allowing kids to make decisions and gain a little more control, parents are building upon the foundation necessary for optimal development of autonomy that will see your little one become more independent, yet still seek appropriate guidance when needed.
Yes that’s right, by simply providing your child with the opportunity to ride their first balance bike, parents and caregivers are making a crucial step in their child developing a sense of personal control over an exciting physical skill and in doing so, can provide a major boost for their personal independence.
Balance bike – full of development potential!
Social and Interactional Benefits
The pre-school years are not only foundational for children gaining their first taste of independence and autonomy, but their waking hours provide an abundance of pretty cool activities and events that involve social interactions with other people.
“physical activity such as riding a balance bike, is a superpower in its role in providing the full repertoire of positive interaction and engagement with others”
These exciting activities are vital in nurturing a child’s social skills and yes, I will be the first to admit my personal bias here with this next statement, I believe that physical activity such as riding a balance bike, is a superpower in its role in providing the full repertoire of positive interaction and engagement with others.
Every time your little champion takes off for a ride on their balance bike, opportunities exist via play for social interactions with parents, caregivers, friends and strangers helping to develop the capacity to relate to others in empathetic and prosocial ways.
Firstbike Balance Bike – highly recommended developmental machine!
Emotional Benefits
Without getting too technical or in depth here, if your little rider is around 2+ years, the opportunity provided to them as they learn the physical skills necessary to ride a balance bike tie seamlessly with the development of their emotional well-being.
Here, we will touch on just two that psychologists make note of.
Socialisation of Emotions
During the second year of a child’s life, complex emotions begin to develop. This includes what is referred to in psychology as socialisation of emotions, and a key aspect of this is emotional display rules.
Children who are encouraged to pursue physical activities such as riding a balance bike will naturally be introduced to regular, diverse social interactions that enhance the process of children acquiring these important social skills.
Emotional self-regulation
This is a biggy. If you personally haven’t experienced the emotional outbursts that captures the gist of the lack of emotional self-regulation displayed by a young child, then perhaps you have witnessed one from a distance.
You know what I’m talking about here. The poor parent wrestling their little toddler away from the playground, grappling for air while ducking and weaving with the skill of a professional kick boxer dodging those roundhouse punches and body kicks! I think you have the picture now.
But what has this to do with my child riding a balance bike you may ask?
Well, quite simply, the more exposure to unique, challenging and engaging activities that require a child to develop their ability to suppress, maintain or intensify their emotional arousal, the better they will become at remaining engaged with the challenges they face and the people in which they socially interact.
Riding a bike is a challenging skill that requires patience, resilience, a lot of grit and determination but most of all an attitude that learns to deal with failures yet remain focused on the ultimate goal.
For our little balance bike champions out there, this goal is to ride off into the sunset with increasing control and grace while having a wonderful fun experience.
An important point is worth mentioning here before we move on. Emotional competence is directly linked to social competence.
Rubber on the ground here, this means that improvements in one of these abilities can ultimately foster development in the other. An added bonus as your child persists in learning to ride.
Confidence
Before we wrap up this article on some of the social and emotional benefits of balance bikes for toddlers, one further key benefit is worth mentioning. That of emotional confidence and a related secondary emotion pride.
Pride develops, according to childhood developmental psychology around the age of 18-24 months. From a balance bike perspective, this means that just when your little rider is taking their first glides on that balance bike, their emotional capacity to experience and navigate a newly acquired emotion as pride is taking place.
Pride is a powerful emotion. One that may be developed through the process of engaging with and overcoming the challenges explicit to riding a balance bike.
Quite simply, through a combination of persistence and encouragement that leads to success in acquiring a new skill, the sense of pride and confidence gained from this achievement will help motivate your little one to attempt greater goals in the future.
Conclusion
While we have just scratched the surface of the multiple social and emotional benefits of riding a balance bike for toddlers here in this article, their significance and powerful benefits should not be underestimated.
Due to the age that a young rider typically begins to ride a balance bike, every aspect of life that is introduced holds extra significance that is fundamental towards childhood development.
The benefits of riding a balance bike begin on the surface. That is, it’s just so much fun! But the benefits run much deeper.
In our first two posts on the benefits of balance bikes for toddlers we hope to have enlightened you to some of the hidden treasures that riding a balance bike can reward your child with. In our third and final article in our series coming up next, it is our goal to continue to inform you of the wonderful rewards available to your child by making riding a balance bike a key aspect of their lives.
We hope that you have enjoyed reading our post and have gained some amazing insights into the benefits of riding a balance bike for toddlers. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask by posting below.
We just love to help you gain the most up to date, informed, and valid information so you can personally experience and enjoy the wonderful world of balance bikes!
Thank you for a second part to your original post. I like that you brought up the emotional part and the confidence. Both of those are not only important for them as toddlers, but as they age and mature. Building that foundation early on is a fantastic thing, and I did not realize that a balance bike could do that until you talked about it. Ultimately, this is something that can help set them up for long term success.
This is so awesome and timing is perfect!
Thank you for sharing the Benefits of Balance Bikes for Toddlers!
I am having a toddler soon and i can’t wait for him to ride a bike for the first time.
I remember when i first rode a bike.
These toddler ones look awesome!
Bike riding is a difficult discipline that calls for perseverance, fortitude, and a lot of grit and dedication.
One of the best things i learned is how emotional confidence is related to secondary emotion pride.
So glad you found the article helpful Lorenz! Yes, balance bikes are awesome, we totally agree. Keep following and sharing as the website continues to evolve, we are only just getting started, and hope to be able to continue to help everyone learn all about the amazing world of balance bikes and how good they are for us.
This is very well written and really made me think. Whilst I have always been a fan of Balance Bikes, I had not considered the benefits in such depth as you have articulated in this series of posts. Keep up the good work!
I love to ride, but I hated the wounds that come with it when starting up. So when it was time for my son, a toddler, to get started, I resisted. But this was my wife’s argument. She insisted it was not just about riding but about creating social and emotional balance for him. And getting him a balance bike will reduce the bruises. She just shed more light on this. I say thank you
The bike picture that you have used at the start of your article looks timeless. As toddlers mature they must be able to explore and test their surrounding in a safe way. Developing a greater sense of personal control is so vital for a child to develop and is shaped by experiences like learning to balance on their own. Learning to interact appropriately to others is an important stage of the developing child and this will be learned as he transverses around on his bike. Is there other activities at this age that are equally as important or is this of primary importance? What do you think?
Hi, thank you for reading and taking the time to comment on our latest article. Riding a balance bike is in and of itself physical. Yet, the developmental skills associated with learning this skill are profound and numerous. There are so many key skills and abilities to learn and develop, and these require not one single medium to practice and learn these, but many. So yes, there are other activities which are equally if not more important than riding a balance bike, it’s just that learning such a skill as this does capture a wonderful range of benefits from this single activity, and we love it! I hope this helps you. Keep following and sharing as we continue to bring you all the wonderful world of balance bike information. Thanks again for following and sharing
It is a great milestone for kids to learn how to ride a bike, and for many, it starts with a balance bike. Apart from learning the physical side of balancing and steering the bike, they also develop self confidence.
Becoming independent is one of the benefits of of balance bikes. Together with social interaction with others, there are so many emotional and physical benefits of riding a bike.
What a great read and yes it makes a lot of sense that learning a new skill like how to balance on a bike would help your toddler get through the emotional tantrums better as well as build a new level of confidence with his new skills. It also helps to divert his attention away from emotional outbursts if he can focus his energy elsewhere.
It must be such a great sense of freedom for him once he masters this skill.
Hey thanks a bunch for sharing this amazing post!
I think I best check out part one of this post as I’m definitely learning a thing or too! This is more than just information about kids and learning to balance bikes, it’s about child development.
Isn’t it awesome to see how each activity can have such an impact on a child’s development and future. My sister is currently studying childcare and I think this post would be a great read for her!
Thanks again!
Hi Sariyah, your so welcome! I’m glad you found our latest article informative and most helpful for you. Yes, the abundance of benefits are simply awesome, all just from riding a balance bike.
We have one further article to add in our series and go deeper into some more psychological benefits for you all to learn about. Please keep following and sharing as we develop our newly established site. We so appreciate your feedback and comments so keep them coming. Happy riding!
balancing bikes can help to build confidence and independence in toddlers. They can learn to control the bike and navigate their surroundings, giving them a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Overall, balancing bikes are an excellent way to help toddlers develop physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you are looking for a toy that will provide your child with hours of fun and learning, a balancing bike is a great option.
Thank you for sharing this interesting article – Benefits of Balance Bikes for Toddlers Part II. Toddlers grow quickly and want to participate in activities. A balance bike is perfect because it is light weight and easy for toddlers to handle. I think a balance bike will assist toddles in communication and decision making.
Thanks a lot for this valuable and detailed post about Balance Bikes for Toddlers. This is really a valuable post. I also agree with Oate. There are definitely many important benefits from this. One very important thing that really increases confidence. Confidence is very important for toddlers. Keep posting like this. I definitely share this.
So glad you’re enjoying our articles and the information is helpful to you Pasindu. We have so much knowledge to share with everyone, so continue to follow and I hope you find our future posts helpful and motivating!
As a single parent of a 5-year-old boy, his safety and security are my priority. I vowed to always protect him from anything that could harm him. This includes anything that he may have fun doing but in the end, could hurt him. This is how I see all kinds of bikes; whether balance bikes or not.
But after reading all about these benefits of balance bikes for toddlers, I believe it’s time for my son to have one. My sister bought a balance bike when her son turned 4 so why shouldn’t my son have one too?
What made this decision easier for me are the social and interactional benefits. I want my son to learn how to mingle with others and develop friendships as early as possible.
Thank you for this eye-opening post.
Hi Alice, your most welcome. We are so glad that you have found our post inciteful and motivating for you as a parent. I too am a parent and can appreciate closely the need to ensure the safety and care of our little gems plus balancing the encouragement to try new and exciting challenges. The benefits are truly special, and my hope for you and your family is that you are rewarded with wonderful experiences and development that riding a balance bike can only bring. Good luck, and thanks for sharing!
Very interesting article. Not a lot of people think about the importance of all this and will probably only think about the more practical effects of it. But deep down there is a lot going on when you let your little one get on his own with such a bike that most parents don’t even think about. A lot of food for thought for many parents for such an important part of our little ones.
What a great article, I like the way it flows seamlessly through each state and benefit .
Being a grandmother of 7 grandchildren , helping them with their
– personal control
– social interaction
– emotional development
Is exciting as I already have the advantages having learnt from my mistakes with their parents. I have used balance bikes and find then great training tools for teaching children to ride
Thanks for such a interesting post on balancing bikes for toddlers. I like the benefits it has on toddlers such as emotional and confidence it gives to the child. Those are both important for the child’s growth and development. In the end will help with there success as they grow older . As someone who is interested in working with kids. I hope to have these in outside field when working with them. As they have great benefits as you stated.
Hey, love your article, is so informative. When I was a child there was no such thing as balance bike. And I agree riding a bike is very challenging skill to learn. I’m father of two toddlers and never considered balance bike.
What’s the best age for toddler to start using balance bike? Would you recommend any specific brand?
thanks Bart
Hi Bart, so glad you enjoyed our latest article.
Regarding your questions, if you have a read through our article which reviews the Top 5 Balance Bikes 2022, you will find towards the end of that article information where we discuss the appropriate ages and developmental stage that we consider as prime for taking on learning how to ride a balance bike.
We believe that there is no single age, but as every child is unique, so too will be the appropriate time for your little ones to take to learning how to ride. I too am a father of a little toddler and she is about to get her first balance bike at 2.5 years. Although, I actually think we could have had her learning around 1.5-2 years quite easily, we have waited just a little longer so that she can develop a little more physically and emotionally.
I hope this helps you, and best of luck with the balance bike experience!