Don’t judge me, like I feel judged by many onlookers every evening when I go cycling with my 9-year-old daughter. Owing to our daily routine, many of them have become acquaintances. A few have actually stopped us mid ride to tell me it’s been close to two months and I should remove her training wheels and allow her to learn to cycle. I smile, say ‘soon’ and move on.

Well, to be honest, my daughter has held onto the fear that she will have a mighty fall before she finally learns to ride a bike - trust grandparents to use this trick to normalise and legitimize her fears - “Har koi girta hai, sabko chot lagti hai.” Anyway, so every day when we come back from cycling, my daughter tells me she doesn’t want the training wheels removed yet and I oblige.

Well, to be honest I also oblige because I enjoy cycling with her. And I don’t want it to become a task for her as well as me to remove the training wheels and start the training.

I have actually been seeing two dads tirelessly running after their sons as they learn to cycle. And I really do applaud them for the persistent effort. But I am not ready for it yet and that does not make me a bad parent. That doesn’t give anyone a chance to judge my parenting skills.

So when I am ready to temporarily remove joy from our evening rides, I will get my daughter’s training wheels removed but right now I am enjoying the fun time we spend together and that’s enough reward for me to give in to her request.

Source: indiatimes.com