Training Wheels My Ass!

What, exactly, do "training wheels" train children for? Jack has been using them for over 2 years, and as far as I can tell, they didn't train a damn thing. Ok, ok, I guess they were nice while they lasted. He loved being able to "ride" a bike, but it kind of set him up for failure. Today, being the big 6 year old that he is, he decided it was time to take those wheels off. His father is at work of course, so I had to dig through the shed and find the right wrench thingy and get them off. Then I had to lower his seat because it was way too high, another wrench thingy. On go his helmet and knee pads and elbow pads, cuz you know, he's probably going to fall. Now he's good to go. But wait, what exactly do I do? I held onto the back of his seat while he tried to steady himself on the bike, but he kept leaning to the right. So I'm bent over trying to hold onto the back of his seat while he's leaning this way and that, finally he starts pedaling and I'm bent over clutching the back of the seat, running, while simultaneously trying to not let him tip. And he's BIG. He's HEAVY. He's 65 pounds. And he kept leaning to the right. So to compensate I kept trying to pull him to the left. Now he's crying and asking me "why do you keep trying to tip me over? Why Mommy? You are tipping me and I can't do it and it's all because of you!" I tried to explain that I wasn't, that I didn't know what the hell I was doing, and that mommy was having trouble bending/running/steadying. I suggested that perhaps Daddy would be better at helping him this weekend. He kept crying, and glared at me and stomped into the house.

I think Dennis will be teaching him to drive too.