No Bike on the Walk

We have been skipping going outside after dinner since the kids get pretty crazy and wound up when we come inside. It’s hard to settle them down and give them a shower, get them ready for bed, brush their teeth, and read to them. One night, I really wanted to take all the kids out for a quick loop around the neighborhood and I also wanted to bring our dog (who I’m sure wanted another walk!).

My 7 year old daughter E and 5 year old son C wanted to ride their bikes. I told them they could. My 2 year old son L wanted to ride his bike. I told him no bike on the walk since he tends to go in the street with it. At first, L was very upset and wanted to whine about it. I told him he could either take a walk outside with us or to go back inside. Eventually, after some back-and-forth with him, he decided to go with us.

I kept reinforcing that if he listened well on the walk, next time he could ride his bike. He would need to stay on the sidewalk and make sure not to go in the street. There was a few instances where he wanted to go in the street or test his boundaries. He would put his feet right next to the curb and see whether or not I would say anything. Then he would put his foot on the street and see if I would say anything. He is a little troll.

What usually takes around a 10 to 15 minute walk took more than 30 minutes because L was so slow. It was great for E and C though because they went crazy on their bikes. They went up and down every street along the walk and had a blast.

Once we finally made it home, I told L he did great and that next time we would see how he did on his bike. He was excited and we all went inside. Unfortunately, E and C were hard to wind down from the outside time and we are back to keeping it calmer after dinners. Maybe once summer officially starts, we can relax things a bit more.