I used behavioral design to get my kid back on his bike
First, a confession.
I do not know how to ride a bike. I struggled mightily with coordination when I was a kid, and never got the hang of balancing it. Being empathetic parents, my mom and dad did not force the issue. So, here I am, an adult who can’t ride, trying to teach his own kid to ride one.
My first son, Finn, learned to ride in the traditional way: using training wheels to get the hang of pedaling and steering, then taking them off to learn to balance. It worked well for him.
My second son, Robin, learned the same way, at first. Except once the training wheels came off, he was reluctant to get on and ride. The feeling of tipping really frightened him. His grandfather, who bought him the bike, has very strong memories about bicycling as a kid, and Robin could tell how important it was to him that he learn to do it, too. But this just made him more anxious.
I knew he could get the hang of it if he would only try, but he wouldn’t get on and ride no matter what we did. Even when we offered him any treat he wanted just to try it, he refused!
I didn’t want the same thing to happen to him that happened to me, so I began to search for a better way.
Changing Approaches
I did some research into some other ways to learn to ride a bike, and discovered the most effective means is not actually the traditional way. Instead of using training wheels, most experts recommend you start by taking off the pedals instead, turning the bike into a glider. This lets the new rider learn how to balance first, before they need to worry about pedaling. Dropping the seat down lets them use their feet as propulsion and makeshift training wheels. It’s almost impossible to fall this way.
I did this, and explained it to Robin, and he seemed excited at first, but still would not get on the bike, even to let me adjust the seat.
Then I realized, I am an expert in behavior change… why wasn’t I using these skills to help my own kid?
Behavioral Design To The Rescue
Around this time, I was reading “Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg, a great book about behavioral design. I knew that the key to lasting behavior change was to make the task as easy as humanly possible, and that more behavior change would grow from the tiny change.
Making Things Easier
There were two barriers to entry for Robin that made this new behavior hard to start. First was physical. To ride his bike, he would have to go to where it is, get on it, and then push it around the neighborhood with his feet. This isn’t exactly running a 10k in terms of strain, but it’s also a lot harder than picking up the remote control. (Maybe you’re starting to relate to Robin already at this point.)
Second was mental. Fear and anxiety rooted in the feeling of unbalance and falling as well as the pressure placed on him by his grandfather (and me) made it much easier not to try at all.
To minimize these obstacles, I changed my ask from “practice riding your bike” to the much more simple, just sit on your bike.
He didn’t have to ride at all! Just sit down on the seat for a couple seconds. That was it. It might seem preposterously simple, but this first step was extremely important. If you won’t even sit on your bike, you can never learn to ride it.
Celebration
BJ Fogg’s first maxim in behavioral design is “People change by feeling good, not bad.” So it is important to celebrate your successes, even tiny ones. I knew this was going to be important for Robin, so I created a double-whammy celebration.
The first was almost more of an incentive. Just for sitting on his bike, he would get one Pez.
Why a Pez? First, I try to control the amount of sugar my kids eat. A Pez is small enough that it won’t harm his nutritional balance. Second, Pez is just the most fun candy. It comes in a cool cartoon character case! You pull the head back, and the Pez gets dispensed for you! It’s a really enjoyable design, and one I exploited for Robin’s celebration.
The Pez dispenser itself has one other really powerful feature which proved valuable to this enterprise. But I’ll explain that later on.
The second part of the celebration was that after he got on the bike, I would give him a big high five and verbally celebrate his accomplishment. He didn’t know this was coming, but I knew it would reinforce things. Robin is a boy who loves to be praised, and loves his dad and grampy.
Prompt
All behavior needs to be prompted. Without a prompt, there is no behavior. For instance, when I see a Dunkin Donuts, I think, “I should get an ice coffee right now.” And when I smell cat poo, I think, “Time to clean the litter box!”
This is a little backwards because when it comes to behavior, a Prompt comes first, but I designed it last. In many ways, prompts are the most difficult part of behavior design, because they need to be clear and evocative. Also, designing a prompt for a 7-year-old presents extra challenges since they’re so scattered and need to be reminded about everything. So I decided the prompt I created would need to be both a prompt for Robin and me.
I wanted to keep the bike at Robin’s grandparents house (which luckily is on my street). This is because his grandfather was the chief bike enthusiast among us, and because I knew the little hill of their driveway would serve as an excellent launchpad for Robin’s gliding.
My first thought for a prompt was, “When you get to Omi and Grampy’s house, you will sit on your bike.” However, this proved to be ineffective because often when he arrives, I’m not there to remind him.
It’s true that Prompts need to be something that happen consistently, but Prompts work best when they are also striking and unusual. So altering your environment is often the best prompt. A simple version of this is leaving your running shoes next to your door, so you see them and are prompted to run. A better one might be to tie the laces of your shoes together and hang them from the doorknob. Harder to miss and more striking. Check out “How To Change” by Katy Milkman for more on this.
I thought about it, then remembered the Pez dispenser. It was striking and unusual. It had Goofy’s face on it, wearing a Christmas scarf, and was bright blue. Hard to miss.
I decided to leave that Pez dispenser on the table next to Robin’s grandparents’ front door. Then, whenever I (not Robin) saw it, I would be prompted to say, “Hey, time to get on your bike!”
The Behavioral Recipe
So, here it is, the behavioral recipe I designed to get Robin back on his bike:
When I see the Pez dispenser, show it to Robin and tell him it’s time to get on his bike. Then, celebrate with a Pez and high five once he’s on it.
The Results
The prompt and promise of Pez was enough to get Robin to sit on his bike seat. I immediately rewarded him with the Pez and high five. He felt great!
And then, since he was already on his bike, he wanted to try gliding on it.
So the very first time we tried the behavioral change recipe, it worked beyond its intent and got him to actually practice riding.
We repeated this for about a week and he glided on his bike every single time. Note that I never made him glide on his bike to earn the celebration. He just wanted to do it.
He took to gliding so well, that soon he was ready to ride the bike at the local park, which was full of massive hills to ride down.
He loved it, and that Saturday I put the pedals back on his bike. I told him there was a surprise waiting for him outside and he said, “I bet I know what it is!” It was his bike, restored to its former glory. He hopped on and immediately pedaled away down the street.
This seems like a small thing, but to me it was huge. On Sunday, Robin was so averse to his bicycle that he was in tears and running away down the street when we asked him to even try sitting on it. By Saturday, he was riding with pedals, without training wheels, all on his own.
Try It Yourself
Is there a difficult behavior you’re looking to instill in your child or yourself? Give this technique a try.
- Analyze the barriers and reduce them.
- Come up with a great way to celebrate.
- Figure out an unforgettable prompt to trigger the new behavior.
You’ll be gliding along in no time.
For another case study in using Behavioral Science to become a better parent, check out my other article: “I Used Behavioral Economics To Redesign Breakfast For My Kid”.
Sam Liberty is a gamification expert and serious game consultant. He teaches game design at Northeastern University and was lead game designer at Sidekick health.
