Can't Ride a Bike at 8 - How Bad?

I would have him tested for autism. My grandson is 14 and can't ride a bike. Because that is one of the things this is very hard for these kids to do.

My Son is 18 now and still does not ride a bike,he rides a skateboard,roller blades and so on but not a bike ,my Mom never learned .There are some people that just cant do it ,no big deal .
It bothered me at first but learned quick that it does not matter .

My daughter is now 18 and NEVER wanted to learn to rida a bike. We tried when she was 4 or 5 and she got really scared. So when she was about 14 she started talking about when she would be able to DRIVE!! So I told her that I wouldnt let her learn how to drive until she could RIDE A BIKE. So needless to say she learned real quick. She and a friend worked on it for one afternoon. That was it Now she can ride a bike and drive a car. She is now in her first semester away at college and doing great!!

My son also did not learn to ride a bike until he was in second or third grade. He soon wanted to ride bikes with his friends. We went into our backyard where no one could watch and he finally learned to ride a bike. I had him on a small hill in our yard and would get him going and very soon he got the hand of it. The deal is that when he is ready he will want to learn and then not in sight of his peers. There is nothing wrong with your son----when he feels he is ready he will do it.

I never learned to ride a bike either. My brother almost got a broken leg from trying to teach me and he was worried about my lack of skill. I also never learned to roller skate even though all my friends could. So, I learned to be a good runner, play handball and do other things that used up my energy. My only regret about not learning to ride a bike is that it would be eco-friendly to do so.

Taking off the pedals is a great idea! There are a whole new series of 'balance bikes' being sold (Costco, Sams club, Amazon) that are basically bikes with no pedals. These mimic the kind of trainer bikes sold in Europe. The idea is that by using these pedaless bikes, the kid pushes with her feet and learns to balance on the bicycle -- without training wheels. This is supposed to make the transition to a regular bicycle painless and easy.

We have 4 sons, ages 20, 15, 11, & 6. Our 11 year old honor roll student cannot tie his shoes yet! I am sure he will get it one day, & just like potty training, riding a bike or tying shoes will happen eventually. You will have a lot worse things to stress about when he's older and starts to like girls, so take a deep breath and enjoy him being 8!!

Wow, that's really sad. Your child is 11 yrs old and can't read? He/she stands no chance in life. You should be ashamed of yourself. It's your responsibility to give your children not only shelter, clothing and health care but to also teach and give him/her everything you possibly can to succeed in life. You can't sit back and expect the schools to do it all. If my child has a problem I dive right in and help him. It makes me wonder if you care at all about the child. Maybe you should be spending less time on the internet and more time with your child.

Please do not feel ashamed that your child can't read. Please visit the following websites to learn about reading disabilities (dyslexia, LD) such as www.ldonline.org,, www.interdys.org, www.schwablearning.org. Also, investigate multisensory reading programs, Good luck!

I'm so glad you mentioned this, because the same kind of thing happened with me, only I didn't need surgery. It took me a LOT of trying, scraped and skinned knees (I still have the scars on my knees), and a very bruised ego, and finally I learned to ride a bike at age 10. One day, after all that trying, it finally just happened! But I realized later on that my sense of balance has never been the best - roller skating, skateboarding, anything requiring a good sense of balance, has always been a real challenge. So I'd say yes, get his ears checked, just in case. After all, both the skateboard, and bike, require a good sense of balance, and those are the things he's given up on. That's quite likely all it is - an impaired sense of balance, and it might just need a bit more time. I did, after all, learn to ride, and if he really wants to, he might just get there one day, himself!