058: The Many Benefits of Striding On a Balance Bike with Ryan McFarland

11/20/24 • 61 min

1 Listener

In this episode, Ryan McFarland founder of Strider Bikes shares how young kids can learn to ride bikes by starting on a balance bike. They can begin even before they can start to walk! With early exposure to a balance bike, kids learn the basics of balance, coordination, and gross motor skills but also gain other benefits that help with speech development, behavioral challenges, growth in social skills, and promote a physically active lifestyle.

This conversation will inspire you to get your child on a balance bike as soon as possible if they aren't already!

Highlights from this episode:

The inspiration behind Strider Bikes
The evolution of bicycling
The rocking bike is safer than a rocking horse
Why you need to ditch the training wheels
How to convert your child’s bike to a balance bike
How to properly introduce a pedal bike
The incredible benefits of biking
The Strider bike program for schools
Scooters vs. balance bikes
How to use a Strider bike

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Previous Episode

057: The Scoop on Picky Eating Strategies and Less Mealtime Stress with Nita Sharda

I'm thrilled to have Nita Sharda on the show, the co-founder of Happy Healthy Eaters, a digital platform and community that supports parents to feed their children from a place of trust and confidence and none of the fear and judgment. Although this is such a tough area to navigate with your little ones, how, what, and when to feed them, Nita breaks it down to make this so much easier.

In this episode, we get into what it's like to feed toddlers, how to help them navigate picky eating, how to create food resiliency, and how to reverse selective ways of eating that aren’t ideal. We also talk about the right things to say and not say at the dinner table, what to offer at the table, and how to approach it positively while still nourishing them.

Nita shares tonnes of helpful tips and you are going to learn so much in this episode.

Highlights from this episode:

Selective eating is normal
What is the division of responsibility?
Creating a flexible routine
How to tackle taste fatigue
Nita’s approach to snack time
Signs of iron deficiency
How to shift mealtime to a positive experience
The benefit of serving dessert with dinner
Should you praise your child for eating?
Serving deconstructed meals family style
Food for play
Feeding toddlers confidently

Show sponsors:

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Next Episode

059: Approachable Ways to Bring Montessori Into Your Home with Agnes Olendrzynska

Agnes Olendrzynska (@agnes.more.than.mom) is a mom of two, a positive discipline parent educator, and a Montessori enthusiast, who shares what realistic Montessori style parenting can look like.

We delve into how to bring Montessori methods into your home day to day and how you don’t even have to have your child at a Montessori school to do all the things, all the time to get some of the benefits. This is what I like about Agnes, she has a realistic approach to Montessori ways and motherhood!

We cover so many interesting topics in this conversation including her approach to floor beds, co-sleeping, favourite activities to do with kids, her use of screen time, how she practiced potty training using elimination communication, helpful tantrum tips, and her homebirth experience.

You are going to enjoy this conversation!

Highlights from this episode: