Teaching the kids to ride bicycles was something I was struggling with…for years. I couldn’t teach my eldest as I had the twins outside with me when I would try. I just didn’t have enough arms or eyes. Then, when I tried to teach the boys, there were two of them & one of me…and a baby in the stroller. It was just not happening.

This was a job where I would need Daddy’s help, but even then, we found it challenging.

Everyone was still riding with training wheels, from eldest to youngest.

And then my sister-in-law told me about a method that she & my brother-in-law had tried that worked very well.  She told me to look it up on YouTube, which I did. The method was simple…and effective.

Tried, tested & true, 4 times over. The kids are all riding without training wheels & that includes the 6 year old

You can expect to have your child riding by the end of one or two afternoons of practice.

Here is what you do:

1. Remove the training wheels.
2. Remove the pedals from the bicycle (Yes, unscrew them & take them OFF)
3. Lower the seat of the bicycle so that when your child sits on the seat, her feet are COMPLETELY flat on the ground.  The seat can be too low, that’s ok.
4. Have your child “scoot” by using her feet and then, eventually, ‘gliding’ with her feet off the ground. This is how they get a feel for maintaining their balance.
5. When she can glide comfortably for a few seconds straight, it means she can balance. Put the pedals back on.
6. Now add in the pedaling motion.  It shouldn’t take long & your child will be riding on his or her own.
7. You may still have to work on the “starting” by using a little help from the curb for starting off, but this stage will not last for very long.

Here’s the link to a video that shows the method:

fyi- you may encounter some resistance to the “scooting”- They’d rather pedal with their training wheels. Stick with this method. You’ll be happy you did.

TRY IT & let me know how it worked!

ALWAYS remember to stay safe & have helmets for all- and that includes Mommy & Daddy!

Have a wonderful day & enjoy the sunshine!!!

Tanya

Now that all four of my kids are riding, (Post on how we made that happen coming soon!), it was time for Mama to get a new bike.  My bike was pushing 25 years and it was just time.

I couldn’t be happier than the moment I opened up the Canadian Tire flyer to find this BEAUTY: The Schwinn Memento, on sale for $169! (That’s $100 off the regular price of $269 ).

I wasn’t looking for something fancy but I was looking for something that I LOVE.

Practically, I wanted something that:

• I could ride sitting upright
• has some sort of rear rack for storage
• has a seat wide enough for my rear rack to be comfortable
• I could ride recreationally with the family or on my own

Style-wise, I was hoping for a vintage-look.

Price-wise, I wanted affordable.

This bike fit the bill on all counts. In fact I even find the $269 price-point reasonable, but the $100 off is just…WOW!

The offer is available at Canadian Tire only until Thursday April 25th.

I have to share that I loved the bike SO much that I wanted to buy an extra one for montrealmom.com to DONATE to Shopping From The Heart for the SILENT AUCTION at the May 9th event!!

The problem: Canadian Tire is out of stock all over the city! I will still try to get the actual bicycle in time for May 9th, but if impossible, we will supply the winner with the rain-check & a gift card for the sale price of the bicycle.

Haven’t heard about Shopping From the Heart?  It’s Mommy’s Night Out featuring chair massages, makeup & profile pics bundled with Mother’s day shopping & more…all while the kids are sleeping!  Check out more on my post about it here.

It’s the perfect gift for a Montreal Mom – A fun bicycle that will yield hours of great exercise & fun – alone, with hubby or with the kids.

So- if you’re in the market for a bicycle for yourself, you may want to:

• Get to Canadian Tire & get a rain-check before the end of day Thursday to benefit from the sale
• Send the link to this post to Hubby with Subject line : Save $100 on my Mother’s Day gift by acting now!
• Show up at Shopping from the Heart and buy a lot of raffle tickets
• Wait until the sale is over & still buy it at $269…when they have more in stock…Still a good deal

Wishing you sunshine & wheels to enjoy it

Tanya

 Disclosure: Canadian Tire totally should have paid me for my time to write this, but they didn’t.  I just HAD to share it with you!

Just last month my daughter had to get ready for a fancy night-time birthday party to which she was invited, and when she tried on the party shoes she wore two weeks prior…they were too small!

Well, off to the mall we ran and Payless ShoeSource came to the rescue!  We found these adorable silver ballet flats for about $17 (tax in) & were in & out of the mall in under 20 minutes.  Not only were they comfortable, her friends loved them, too

Outfitting 4 kids is not only time consuming, it’s expensive. In addition, my kids use orthotics for their everyday shoes so I am quite particular about their footwear.  That said, when it comes to party shoes & fun summer shoes, it’s hard to beat Payless, and I am very happy to pay less.

The reason I’m bringing up Payless today is that they have just launched the Payless Rewards Program: a FREE Membership which entitles its members to exclusive benefits, including:

• A special birthday offer — a single discount offer redeemable anytime within the shopper’s birthday month
• Exclusive member offers throughout the year
• Tailored offers based on style and shopping preferences
• Advanced communications on upcoming sales events and trend alerts, like the arrival of key sandal styles for summer, as well as notification of special contests and exclusive shopping events.

I don’t know about you, but when I have to run into a retailer to pick up things for one of my kids post-growth-spurt, I love pulling out my iPhone with the latest offer and saving some cash.  I feel good about it & it makes my husband smile.

It would have been the same thing with my daughters ballet flats had I been a rewards member then!

So how do you register?

• Sign up is FREE at any Payless store or online at Canada.Payless.com/Rewards
• Within minutes registrants will receive an initial offer good on their next Payless purchase
• Show your Payless Rewards card with each purchase to continue to receive great benefits

That’s all there is to it!

Now, to celebrate the launch of this fun & fabulous program, Payless is offering a $50 Payless gift card to one lucky montrealmom.com reader

In order to ENTER THE GIVEAWAY you must:

• Leave a comment in the comments section of this post answering the following question: “What would you do with a $50 Payless gift card?”
• Correctly enter your email address as the winner will notified via email.

Once you have entered by answering the question above in the comments section, Here’s how you can get additional entries:

• Follow @montreal_mom on Twitter (leave your Twitter handle in the comments section of this post)
• Follow @PaylessInsider on Twitter (leave your Twitter handle in the comments section of this post)
• Tweet this giveaway by Tweeting this post using #Rewards  (1 entry for every Tweet, you can tweet up to 2 times daily- please leave a link to each Tweet in the comments section of this post)
• Add montrealmom.com/blog to your RSS Feed (leave note in comments that you have done so, use same email address for both comment & RSS Feed)
• Write about this giveaway on your blog/website and leave me a link to your post in the comments section (counts as 4 entries!)
• Read any other post on the montrealmom.com blog and comment on it (please leave a comment on this post as to which post you read & commented on)

The giveaway ends at 11:59 PM on Friday, April 26, 2013.  Winners will be chosen at random and will be contacted via email before the end of the day on Saturday April 27, 2013. Please make sure your email address is correctly entered in the comments section as the winner will notified via email. Winner must answer a skill-testing question before claiming prize. Open to Canadian residents only.

So…now it’s time to…

(1) Sign up for the rewards program &

(2) Enter the giveaway

(3) Follow Payless on Facebook, just because you’ll see lots of fun & great stuff there

I hear a pair of wedges calling your name

Wishing you happy feet this spring & summer!

Tanya

As with all sponsored posts, I will only ever share with you products and/or services I believe in. All opinions contained within are my own and cannot be bought