Thursday, March 15, 2012

Kids' Toys: The yBike Glider

Many mums know of the yBike balance bike.  It's like a bicycle, except it hasn't got any pedals.  Kids use it just like a regular bike.  Their claim is that with regular bikes attached with training wheels, kids don't really learn to balance as the training wheels catch them each time they lose their balance.  They just learn how to pedal real quick.   With yBikes, they focus more on learning how to balance themselves on two wheels and that is really the key to learning to cycle.

Well, we didn't get Connor a yBike as he already had a Thomas bike for his 2nd birthday.  But we noticed he would always stare in fascination at the older kids in our condo development who had kids' scooters.  He received one for Christmas in the UK but it was designed for a much older child who could already glide and Connor struggled with it.

About a month ago, we got him a yBike glider from Toys 'r' Us in Bangsar Village.  He was so happy with it that we unpacked it right away and let him glide back down the connecting bridge (with Daddy's help).  

Man, I don't know why we waited so long to get him that toy.  He's absolutely in love with it.  It took him about a week to figure out how to turn.  It's real easy, just lean on the handlebars in the direction you want to go and the glider will turn.  The glider is really well made, soft rubberised edges to protect little bodies, feels really sturdy and best of all, it's really, really, REALLY quiet.

We've cleared a path in our apartment so that Connor can glide from one end to the other.  He does so frequently and now that he's mastered turning, he goes round and round in ecstatic circles round our dining table.  When we had one MSN chat session with Nana in Liverpool, we picked up the laptop and let her see her little grandson zooming gleefully around on his glider and she thought it was brilliant.

I think we paid RM200+ for the glider.  There are cheaper ones on the market but I feel this was well worth the extra cost as it's so sturdy and SO quiet.  I was out the other day in Mont Kiara McD's and one little boy went past with his.  Click-clack-click-clack!  My god.  I would go nuts hearing that all the time in my house.

Right now, Mothercare is having a sale and I saw it going for under RM200 so get it while you can!  Honestly, you won't regret it, it's such a brilliant toy!




No comments:

Post a Comment