Once your child is riding confidently, they may enjoy trying to ride standing up for the first time. This is a helpful technique for certain types of cycling and will help them tackle challenging hills or inclines, or to ride over potholes.

It is important that you teach your child to be careful when using their front brake when riding standing up. This could send them over the handlebars if they do not keep a low centre of gravity and shift their weight to the rear of the bike when applying the front brake.

When practising standing up on the pedals for the first time, it is a good idea to first attempt this without pedalling with both pedals in a level position: Your child should push up towards a standing position on the pedals with their feet at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions on the pedals. One simple exercise in the park can be to ask your child to ride in this way when riding over small bumps in the path: They will learn that tackling such bumps off the saddle can be more comfortable as the bike, as opposed to their body, will absorb the bumps!

When ready, they can then start pedalling whilst standing up, which may require a slightly higher gear than what they have just used when riding seated. As always, looking where they want to go – rather than down at the floor – will help your child balance when standing up on the pedals.

Remember that when your child practises standing up when riding up or down hills, they should shift their body weight forwards when riding uphill, and back when they ride downhill!

How do I teach my child to stand up while cycling?

Unii's Learning to Cycle Journey shares how to teach your child about standing up when cycling.