balance bike and kickboard mini scooter

[diamond]

My 3 yr old dd has a trike and is good and fast riding it. I think the next logical step is a balance bike and got her one smart balance bike in the barnes and noble sale for $40. She is tall 37 inches but skinny at prob 20% do you guys think this is a good step after trike? Not sure abt quality of smart bal bike. Will try if not good hopefully bn will take it back?

Anyway my dd has been constantly asking for a scooter mini kick as a neighbors girl keeps riding hers all the time. Do you think I should cave in for a mini kick? How is it different from bb. Are a bb and a scooter really needed?

Also we can ride in summer nd spring outside. What do your kids do in winter with their bikes/trikes/scooters? We r almost not using ours for 6 months due to cold and it feels so much of waste to use for a. Few months only. Ty

[maestramommy]

Dora went from a trike to a regular bike. Dh found one at the dump store and had the pedals taken off. She went back and forth between the two for the last year, and finally since this fall has been trying to ride it (Dh put the pedals back on). She was able to ride several feet at a time, but TODAY, with the weather 68 degrees and sunny she hopped on right after getting off the bus. I gave her a little push, and that was IT. She rode around the driveway again and again for an hour. In hindsight it's not the best of kind bike for this function (it's a Huffy dirt bike looking thing), but somehow she finally made it work.

We have several months of the year too where it seemed like they couldn't ride their bikes, either because of snow or because it's just so COLD. But now that Dora's finally riding on her own I'd be willing to bet she won't care if it's 0 degrees out

I'm thinking a new bike might be an appropriate bday present this year The pinkest, girliest bike I can find.

ETA: Dora was 4 when Dh got the two-wheeler. She is almost 6.5 now. I guess compared to other kids she's learning kind of late (some of my friends' kids were able to ride two-wheelers at 5 or even 4), but she did eventually learn, mostly on her own, at little expense to us. Maybe she would've learned sooner if we got her the Skut bike, maybe not. dh has been down on himself because he just hasn't had the time to work with her on it, otherwise she might've gotten to this point last fall. But it did happen. Dora was so proud she said, "are you gonna tell Daddy when he gets home?"

[diamond]

Yea congratulations to dora and her persistency. She can ride now. Ty for sharing

[mnosky1]

My DD just turned 4 and is 25% for height and weight - not sure on height but that is 32 pounds. She never cared for her strider at all. Has a kettles trike and rides it but not so much either. She LOVES her mini kick she got for Christmas and rides it all around the house and bottom of our driveway and once we get some decent weather and
get to a park, I think she'll be really riding it. So for us, it's much different and something I finally don't feel like was a waste of money.

[LaCostaMom]

I guess it would depend if you have a specific goal in mind. If it's to skip training wheels, then I'd go with a balance bike. DS asked my mom for a mini-scooter but I asked her to hold off because we really want DS & DD to keep at their bike-riding for now (DS went from bb to pedal bike; DD is just about ready for pedal bike - they will be 4 next week).

Frankly, I don't really see any negatives here. Having a balance bike & mini-scooter will keep your child active while having fun so I don't think you can go wrong either way.

[Momit]

We are super happy with our balance bike (it's the LikeABike brand). We gave it to DS for his 2nd birthday. It took him a couple of months to get the hang of it but now at 3.5 he rides like the wind (always with a helmet, of course) and is very good with the balance and steering.

I just picked up the Smart balance bike to have at grandma and grandpa's house. They know how much he loves his bike and feel bad he doesn't have anything to ride there. He's not a large kid at all so I hope he can use it for another couple of years.

We have the MiniKick as well. He just got that for Christmas and loves that, too. We usually take the balance bike to preschool and then I walk the dog every afternoon with DS riding the MiniKick.