Lincoln’s not always the biggest fan of new things. We know this, so when we got him a bike as part of his birthday gifts last year, we bought cheap and second hand. ‘If he refuses to use it, it’s not the end of the world’, we thought.
Sure enough, he was a bit suspicious of it. He agreed to come out and try and learn with me within a few days though, and did pretty good. Not fully cycling on his own, certainly not confident on it, but pretty good as first attempts go. ‘Maybe he’ll like it after all then?’, we thought. That was 4 months ago. He’s not been on it since, and not through a lack of offering and trying to convince him.
So today, when our daughter Lyra asked him if he wanted to play out on the bikes my inner monologue said, ‘no chance kiddo, sorry’. But then Link surprised us. Not only did he okay the idea, but he got his trainers and helmet on, and rolled out the bike without complaint.
I waited inside, fully expecting them to be back within 30 seconds. Sure enough, within the time it took to turn on the coffee machine, my wife — about to drive to the supermarket — calls from outside. My eyes roll. But before I can muster a, ‘what’s gone wrong?’, she said, “you might want to come and see this”. Through force of will, personality, or some unknown black magic, Lyra’s not only got Lincoln to get on the bike and accept her instruction. BUT HE’S CYCLING UP AND DOWN THE ROAD UNAIDED. On his second time ever on a bike without stabilisers. Within literally minutes. I don’t know how she did it. I don’t know how he did it. I do know kids are full of surprises, and you should never, ever, write them off at anything.