Believe it or not, there are several reasons your kids should learn how to ride a bike. Aside from improving their bone structure and staving off future skeletal conditions, bike riding also boosts their overall coordination and tolerance to stress.
Playing outdoor games is diminishing slowly because parents find it dangerous to bring their children into a real-world environment, and you’ve got nothing but improvements in tech to attribute to that. However, cycling is exciting and helps children become agile, happy, and rejuvenated. It can also prevent obesity and help kids gain stamina. Let’s look at other merits your kids stand to gain from cycling.
1. Fun-packed and Exciting
Except for video games, only a few activities can be compared to the pure, unadulterated fun of racing on a bike with close peers. Sure, there’s the ever-present possibility of having knees scratched now and then, but it’s nothing; a bit of protective gear and adequate preparations will have everything covered.
To spice things up further, you could even decide to organize periodic cycling competitions among friends and family and include extras like scoreboards, trophies, etc.
According to Amber Bigetti, a children’s health expert who also works as a writer for papersowl.com, “Cycling gives children a sense of self-sufficiency, which they like. They may find it difficult initially, but if you encourage them, it will soon become their favorite pastime”. She also adds: “The upsides to turning this activity into a habit are immense health-wise which is simply fantastic”.
2. Improves Emotional Well-being
An hour a day cycling around a neighborhood improves your kids’ level of confidence in no small measure. The reason is not very far-fetched. Riding bikes around, which coincidentally is one of the most popular sports in America to enjoy, gets them used to their environment. Nothing builds more familiarity than first-hand contact.
Upon needing to step outdoors without the supervision of a parent or guardian, their up jumped level of familiarity with their surroundings allows them to successfully move around without getting into any helpless state of hysteria.
Biking with you, their parents, by their side makes for forming a stronger familial bond among you all. A kid typically emerges from that kind of physical activity with long-lasting positive memories of family time.
3. Improves on Levels of Activity
The prime downside of indoor games (notably video games) is the rise in levels of obesity observed among such kids. Compounded with the declining levels of interest in outdoor activities, it’s not surprising that the condition has been on a troubling rise in the last decade.
Cycling is the most effective way to reduce the possibility of your kids getting obese, especially if they’re avid gamers prone to sitting at a spot for long periods. The best time to develop this skill in them is when they are still quite young with their very flexible bodies.
The continual pedaling action of their legs while on a bicycle effectively burns off body fat and keeps them in shape. However, how quickly it takes to get them back in form depends on how obese they are and how often they cycle around.
4. Piles on Muscles
Aside from improving their bone structure and resistance levels to cardiovascular disorders and skeletal fractures, cycling on bikes builds up muscle mass in children like most other physically-inclined activities, making it a good effective use of their free time.
Although most expected growth in muscles would be in their legs, a bit of traction gets distributed all over the body, making cycling a bit of a full workout. Suppose you’ve been worried all this while about exposing your kids to possible cycling accidents. In that case, you can rest assured, knowing you are mostly fortifying your kids against future skeletal problems.
5. Enhances the Environment
From a fresh perspective, the pros of having your kids take a bike ride around rather than hitchhike on the occasional tramway cannot be overstated.
Times are changing, and with climate issues being a thing, it’s becoming increasingly necessary for humans to reduce the level of emitted carbon-based compounds. Cycling is morphing to become a life-saving skill to acquire. Zero pollution from bicycles ensures that the society becomes a less toxic and, consequently, more accommodating place to live.
6. Improves Brain Power & Mental Health
Psychologists observed way back in 2015, via a study published by Psychology Today, that there’s a positive correlation between levels of mental well-being and frequency of cycling among kids. Researchers observed that blood flow increases with the level of motor action their systems get subjected to while pedaling.
As a result, their brains stay healthy and receptive to new pieces of info they pick up in classes. Compared with kids fond of being glued to a TV screen and a preference for taking school buses, physically active kids tend to perform better at their academics.
7. Enhanced Socialization Skills
It’s largely unlikely that your kids would be the only ones to cycle down the street on days they choose to. Chances are there will be other families with kids their age on the same tracks.
Combined with the additional health benefits mentioned above, this is more remarkable than bonding over Call of Duty. They make more buddies, become more socially inclined, and become an overall better influencer in society.
Conclusion
The health benefits from cycling cannot possibly be overstated for children. We’ve shown in no unclear wording in the article that aside from improvements to their bodily welfare, cycling equally helps foster familial solid bonds and make children, even toddlers, more socially inclined.
Considering all those positive things one might get from cycling, it’s high time you get your kid a bike. It will be beneficial for your family and for the planet in general.
Like PEZ? Why not subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive updates and reminders on what’s cool in road cycling?
