Parents paying professionals to teach their children to cycle
Posted on in Cycles News
New research has found even the most basic of childhood skills are now being outsourced by parents who don't have the time or patience to teach their kids.
Activities such as art (32%) and even reading (19%) are being avoided by parents in favour of splashing cash on a professional.
Teaching your child to ride a bike, what was once considered quality parent-child bonding time, now sees 3 in 10 parents swerving the responsibility stating fear and frustration as the cause.
39% were scared their child would hurt themselves, 33% admitted they don't have the patience and 20% were unsure of how to instruct to their child effectively, according to research from MyVoucherCodes.
And parents are willing to pay good money for an easier life, with the average spend on cycling lessons in Britain a whopping £841m[i] - that's £143.63 per family, when combining the research with ONS data. Some parents were even happy to spend in excess of £500 on lessons - a lot considering it takes the majority of children just two weeks to pick up the skill.
Reasons parents give as to why their child can't ride a bike:
- Child can't get the hang of it (30%)
- Can't find someone to teach child (23%)
- Do not have the time to teach them (18%)
- Can't ride a bike themselves (12%)
- I can't be bothered to teach them (10%)
This parental disinterest seems to be having an effect - 43% of children are now older than the national average age of 5 years old[ii] when they master the skill, and worryingly 9% still haven't learnt how to ride a bike by the age of 18.
Chris Reilly, Managing Director of MyVoucherCodes who commissioned the research said: "Considering 91% of parents described their own experience of learning to ride a bike as positive, it's surprising to see the number, let alone expense, of parents outsourcing such a key childhood milestone.
"Perhaps mums and dads just need a bit of help and reassurance, so we've teamed up with a cycling coach to create a hints and tips video which can be viewed on MyVoucherCodes.co.uk. We hope this inspires parents to give teaching their child to ride a bike another go!"