Every Day Bike Ride

My 4 year old son C has been feeling a lot better since his foot fracture a few months ago. It’s to a point where he is walking well and wanting to be active on his own. The doctor said to let C figure out what activity level is right for him and his body will know what is appropriate.

Taking that advice, C wanted to start riding his bike again a few weeks ago. It’s a balance bike and requires a lot of running to keep it going. I told him he could and that we would go to the playground so he can ride his bike. I did want him to take it easy, which meant not riding super fast and also avoiding really big bumps (for now). My 6 year old daughter E wanted to come along, so off we went.

When we got to the playground, of course C zooms off super quickly. He is running around in his balance bike everywhere and going up and down huge bumps. I try to get him to slow down with a few warnings and after a while, I gave up. He wanted to have fun and clearly his foot felt better. It was hard to watch in the beginning because I was worried he would aggravate his foot, but it was fine in the end and there weren’t any issues.

Fast forward to the present and C wants to go on bike rides every day. Whenever he can squeeze one in, he would ask me to take a loop around the neighborhood. Most of the time I agree and I have to run to keep up with him, which is good exercise for me. I mostly want him to have fun, but I also want him to use his legs and rebuild the muscle he lost since his foot was in a boot. One calf looks noticeably smaller and hopefully he regains the muscle quickly. With all the bike rides he is going on, I’m sure he will.