Riding Trike in the House

Ask the Experts

Naomi Aldort

My 3 1/2 year old loves riding his tricycle. He insists on riding it throughout every room in our house, into the bathroom, to go into the other room to get something, etc. There is really not room in our bathroom for our 18 month old, me, the 3 1/2 year old, and the trike. I have come to the conclusion after reading your book that he is letting me know he needs something, but I'm having trouble determining what! It's hot where we live, so we can only get about an hour of outside time/ day, and when we're out, he wants to do water play or swing, and isn't really interested in riding his trike.

This has become a huge source of frustrating with my husband and has led to multiple incidences of disconnection. We really want to understand our son and what he's trying to communicate to us with the incessant trike riding. Thank you very much for your response. Ashley Flowers

Dear Ashley,

Not every child’s activity or behavior has a deep communication or meaning. It sounds to me like your wonderful child loves the tricycle and has gotten used to riding in the house. Children go through periods of being passionate about one thing they love and doing it all day long for months. This is normal and is not “telling” you anything other than, “I love to ride my tricycle.”

If you offered the trike only when he is outside, he would ride it when outside. But, you would have to take him outside for much longer than one hour per day. So it sounds to me like you are making your life easier by letting him ride it in the house. Enjoy while it lasts, as this too will pass.

However, he doesn’t have to ride into the bathroom. You may be afraid to provide guidance and model respect of yourself and others. If I asked you why don’t you limit his riding space to any place other than the bathroom, my guess is that you would say, “He won’t let me,” by which you mean that he will scream, cry or have a tantrum.

If he cries, I suggest that you validate his desire to ride into the bathroom and support his need to cry. Crying is not a problem. I hear from you that having the tricycle in the bathroom is a problem. So don’t have it there and enjoy your child’s riding everywhere else. Respect yourself, and your child will respect himself and you.

Find us on facebook	Follow us on twitter
Subscribe to our RSS feed	Follow us on Pinterest

Riding Trike in the House

Discussions