This last week, my 12 yo daughter decided my 6 yo daughter needed to learn to ride a two-wheeler (bike) without training wheels.

But… my 6 yo wasn’t really that into that idea. So my oldest got creative.

She took a necklace her sister has been trying to “borrow”, and turned it into a reward for her sister for learning to ride a bike.

The necklace has five stars of different colors on it, so Kate (my daughter) made up names for each of the stars and assigned a milestone step for each star.

The last star was pink (my 6 yo’s favorite color) and was earned with the necklace only after my little one succeeded in riding her two wheeled bike by herself in the cul-de-sac.

I first became aware of this, when I looked up from a project at my computer to see Kate pushing Little E on her bike around the backyard. I just smiled and periodically looked up to watch them.

Later they came in all excited that Little E was ready to try riding in the cul-de-sac. A little while later, I was called out to watch.

As you can see… Success!

The right motivation and a clever scheme from big sister, plus lots of encouragement, brought my 6 yo into the land of big kid bike riding

And Kate tells me she’s not a good teacher…

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