The OP pretty much sums it up - what worked for you and your kids?
Thanks!
Warning, I have no kids, but… One trick I heard was to give it a try on a slight downhill area, that leads into a flat area, so that the kid doesn’t have to pedal to keep the bike going. He can just glide down the hill a few times to get used to the feeling, before having to pedal. Also, make the seat low enough that he can put his feet down. He’ll be able to practically walk the bike down the hill, gliding inbetween to get the hang of it.
Gradual hill that levels off, grass preferably, low seat.
My older sister took me out for ‘lessons’ once, and she ran next to me holding the bike while I pedalled. She was well back of my peripheral vision, so when she let go and stopped running, I had no idea she even let go, and was riding all by myself and didn’t even know it.
That gave me the confidence that I could do it.
Secondly, the kid is going to fall at some point. Just don’t tell him that, but make sure he’s got a helmet on to be safe.
Make sure the kids knows safety and how to stop, look fo rtraffic etc. I can’t count the number of times I could have ‘bought it’ on a bike as a kid; and I consider my training pretty good.
Cheesteak’s idea is spot on, in my opinion. My 8 year old just taught himself to ride a bike on Saturday. He was terrified of bikes (think Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes).
We moved to a suburban neighborhood (we used to live downtown) and the peer pressure finally got to him. He resolved himself to learn how and he did. He overcame the balance problem by riding down a slight incline. It worked like a charm. He finally fell off his bike on Monday, gashed his hand a bit and decided falling off isn’t really as bad as it seems.
I’m so proud of him.
What works well is to have one person follow the kid, perhaps guiding the handlebars at first like NoGoodNames describes, and have someone else stand at a distance. Tell the kid to ride toward the other person, and to keep looking at that person.
The key to balance is seeing the horizon, but kids tend to look at their handle bars or pedals when they first start out.
I remember the day I first rode my bike without training wheels like it was yesterday. I rode around w/ the trainers on for hours on end every single day (twas my first bike and I loved her dearly), and after about a monthor so, Pa said it was about time to take them off. He took 'em off and I rode. That’s it. It was surprisingly simple, I had zero problems with balance and I’ve been bike riding with facile ever since. Just let your kiddo ride around on the bike with the trainers on for a while and when you finally decide to take them off, she should ride with no difficulties. Worked for me at least.
The bike shop I just bought my bike at recommends raising the training wheels little by little.
Don’t know if it works. My son will be five at the end of the summer, but he’s a tentative kid, so taking them off and running behind him probaby isn’t in the cards. We’ve raised them a little once this Spring already. He has pretty good balance, so I think this will work for him.
My daughter will present a different challenge. She is still little, but doesn’t hold her head still when she rides and doesn’t have great balance. Coldie’s method sounds a little more likely to succeed with her.
She should ride with no difficulties? Sexist meanie, the OP refers to his child as “him” and I still use feminine pronouns.
My kid never had training wheels. He started on a small two-wheeler when he was almost five. Sure he fell a couple times, but this was a kid who’d bike head-on into a brick wall, so I’m sure it didn’t scar his memories. He picked up on it right away.
Like Kalhoun’s son, I never had training wheels. My dad’s theory was that all they allow you to do is learn to pedal, but elimante any need to balance. We went down to a local park which had lots of flat, paved trails about 4-5 feet wide, with grass on the sides. When I’d fall, it’d be onto the grass, so it wasn’t bad. He’d get me started and run along trying to catch me if I’d go down. Anyhow, it worked pretty well.
If your kid’s able to get mildly injured without freaking out (or you freaking out), I’d say do something along those lines. Wear safety gear, of course.
The best way is to remove the pedals! That’s right, take out your monkey wrench and remove them. (Warning: the left pedal has a reverse screw.) Then have the child use the bike as a hobby horse or kick bike. Sooner or later he/she will learn to balance the bike. Only then attach the pedals.
Believe me, that’s the modern method. There’s even a product called Like-a-bike, a bike without pedals designed to teach a child how to balance a bike.
Thanks for all of the replies - very helpful.
Slight Incline? Check - will find one close by that’s safe
Raise Wheels? Check - will try that to see if it helps or if he just continues to try to rely on them.
Person in distance? Check - of if my wife has to watch our younger daughter, I will focus on a sighting point off in the distance.
Remove Pedals? Has real possibilities - the logic is sound. I will try the other approaches first, and if they aren’t working, will definitely take that approach. He had a toy motorcycle (thanks, grandma) that he scooted on that way - perhaps I will try to have him scoot on his bike down the incline to work on his balance as part of learning…
Thanks again.
I might be too late, but I’ve taught six kids how to ride their bikes.
I tried the grassy area with a slight slope. Either the slope was too slight, the ground too uneven, or my kids too awkward. It didn’t work, but it did work for a friend.
Tried the person at a distance, but our cul de sac is at the cusp of a disturbingly big drop, and they kept looking at that. Of course, you steer where you stare. Didn’t work.
Never thought of removing their pedals. Good sounding idea.
I did it the old fashioned way. I ran behind them, stooped over, until they could ride in a straight line. I let go without them knowing, but kept my hand very near. (My kids may or may not be coordinated, but they are sharp!) I made a rule that they had to be able to turn in both directions. Towards the hill was always the hard one, but they got it with me running behind them. Good exercise, hard on the back. However, it doesn’t have to be you - neighborhood kids love to help. Stopping using the brakes and not their shoes is a good one to teach them also.
Here’s another vote for the “run behind them, and let go without them knowing” school.
I would advise continuing to run alongside… if you fall behind… they’ll figure out that you are not holding anymore. 
This is easy!!
You can teach any child to learn how to ride a bike, in less than an hour.
I did it with 3 kids, and it works.
There was an article of how to do it in Parent magazine, about 15 years ago.
What you do, is to go to a place, like a parking lot, a very big area where the child does not have to worry about steering in any particular direction.
Do NOT try to teach a child in a sidewalk, street, or driveway!!
Next, you instruct the child to always steer into the “fall”.
Steering into a fall, will keep any bike from falling.
The problem most parents have, is that they try to teach a kid to ride a bike on a street, or a sidewalk, and the child cannot steer both to keep from falling, and to stay on the side walk.
The 3 kids I taught, learned how to ride a bike in an average of 20 minutes.
Make sure the child understands that he is not to steer the bike in any direction, ONLY into the fall. The path the bicycle takes, should resemble a bowl of spagetti.
Both my kids learned to ride within an hour or two by the no-pedal method.
Its the method which my hubby and FIL recommend as bike shop owners.
“Teach Bike Riding in One Hour”, by Richard Williams.
Parents magazine, August 1986, pages 88-90. Gives the complete description is 6 easy steps. It works.
This is a video we bought which sounds like the Parent’s Magazine method.
Child #1 learned with the running behind, let go method. Looking ahead rather than down was key.
Child #2 had more difficulty, we found the pedal magic/parents magazine method (learn to steer into lean) helpful.
We tried removing pedals with #2, it was not helpful.
Training wheels seem counter productive.
PS: If you like to bike, a “Trail-a-Bike” (hooks to your bike),
is excellent.
Raise one of the training wheels so it’s higher than the other.
This will teach your child balance but not take away the support, so if the bike starts to fall, it won’t fall over.
Try also in a grassy area, so if the child does fall, he won’t get scratched up to badly.
And of course, the helmet. Always the helmet.
“Training” wheels “train” nobody, are a waste of money, and are counter productive.