Dawes Family in New Zealand

And She’s Off….Finally!

From a very young age Bethany wasn’t really keen on riding anything, it started at 2 years old and as you can see from this photo here her first ever ‘bike’ was not her favourite!!

For years and years we have been trying to get Bethany to ride a bike, Santa gave Bethany her first bike here in New Zealand for Christmas when she 4 years old, and it never really went down very well. Any opportunity to NOT ride was a good thing for Bethany – and for us and our stress levels! This went on for years and years and as much as we tried it never happened. When we went to England in 2010 we thought we had it cracked, on our trip to Center Parcs Bethany rode alongside her cousin everywhere – we took the admiration Bethany had for her cousin and hoped that the peer ‘pressure’ would help and even though she still had training wheels she had a great time and loved every moment.

So when we came back to NZ we had a plan, Bethany would of course love now to own and ride a bike. Apparently not. Any mention ended up in confrontation and sadness – we couldn’t even think of a moment when something traumatic maybe had given her a hatred towards bikes…so we just put it down to the fact she was just one of those children who didn’t like to ride (although I have never met a child that doesn’t!).

I then decided I would like to get a bike and ride again, I find bikes hugely uncomfortable and end up in a lot of pain after but wanted to get more exercise so we headed off to the bike shop just to have a look. I knew that I needed to do something to push myself into riding otherwise it was likely I would just not do it, so I bought a helmet – first steps right? Turns out Bethany also wanted a helmet…and after a lot of fun choosing the right styles and laughing at how silly we looked she got one – but it came with the negotiation that a helmet meant a bike.

A few weeks later our lovely kind family asked us what Bethany would like for Christmas – and we had of course the perfect idea. We headed to the bike shop, I picked out a bike for myself and Bethany literally fell in love with another. We watched her enthusiasm and hoped that it would carry on once we got her on the bike!

And so the story is this. One day there was a little girl who hated bikes, hated them soooo much and never wanted one. Never wanted to ride and never felt the pressure or sadness of watching others ride around. Then one day this little girl hopped on a bike, and took off! We prepared ourselves for weeks and weeks of training, hours and hours of crying and tantrums, but no, there were a few frustrated moments but this little girl not only got on a bike that had no stabilisers, she was off and riding by herself after only half and hour of teaching…totally amazing.

So yes we have had falls and Bethany has really hurt herself on many occasions but we have all done this as children, its all part of the fun relationship between you and your bike. We are so proud of Bethany, she has had an amazing spirit and really proven that with just a little motivation and a little determination (and a little less don’t want too’s) that anything is possible.

We all go for bikes rides together now, and it’s fantastic. We have so much fun and it’s amazing how far you can get in such a small amount of time. Hurrah for everyone involved – thank you to lovely family for buying Bethany a gorgeous bike, thank you to Dad for offering the support and running alongside, but mostly thank you to Bethany – congratulations on successfully completing another  childhood memory.