I ran across this article on Engadget and realized that even training wheels are becoming Old School!
Now, I had heard the the argument that training wheels don’t exactly help with balance. They can be a crutch that you have to break away from. We ran across balance bikes that are supposed to help kids learn their balance quicker. Here’s a video of what those look like.
One thought: my son is having trouble learning the pedal motion much less balance. This wouldn’t help with that at all.
The Engadget article takes a new direction all together. Add a gyroscope to the wheel to steady balance. They put settings in there so you can control the strength of the upright force and slowly take away the help until the kids can do it on their own.
This video shows one Jyro Wheel in action. The wheel looks different than the one in the Engadget article, but the name is the same. I wonder if it is the first version.
Another thought: the gyroscope can correct balance, but it can’t correct steering. Nothing takes the place of a parent teaching a kid no matter what tools are used!
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