{"id":363,"date":"2026-05-01T12:07:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/?post_type=kazka&p=363"},"modified":"2026-05-21T21:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:22:08","slug":"khlopchyk-z-velosypeda","status":"publish","type":"kazka","link":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/kazka\/khlopchyk-z-velosypeda\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy with a bicycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u23f1 ~4 min reading<\/p>\n\n\n

It was Sasha's birthday. His sixth. And among all the gifts, the most important one stood on the porch: a shiny blue bicycle. Two-wheeled. Real. Big.<\/p>\n\n

Not the child's one, with extra small wheels. This one was completely adult\u2014two wheels, a handlebar with a bell, a red saddle, and silver spokes.<\/p>\n\n

Sasha walked around him from all sides and couldn't believe it.<\/p>\n\n

"Dad, is he mine?"<\/p>\n\n

"Yours, yours," Dad smiled. "Are you going to go skating?"<\/p>\n\n

"I don't know how," Sasha said, embarrassed.<\/p>\n\n

"And I will help you. Don't be afraid.".<\/p>\n\n

They went to the park \u2014 Sasha rode his bike alongside, dad carried a small bucket of water, sandwiches, and glasses. In the park, on a path among the linden trees, where it was quiet and cozy, they stopped.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSit down,\u201d Dad said.<\/p>\n\n

Sasha carefully sat down. The bicycle swayed beneath him as if it were alive. Sasha gripped the handlebars so tightly that his fingers turned white.<\/p>\n\n

\u2014 Dad, don't let go!<\/p>\n\n

"I won't let you go. Put your feet on the pedals. I'll hold the saddle.".<\/p>\n\n

Dad held on tightly. Sasha moved his feet on the pedals and slowly began to turn. The bike moved. At first slowly, unevenly - Dad walked next to him and held on. Then faster - Dad was already running.<\/p>\n\n

"Don't let go!" Sasha shouted.<\/p>\n\n

"I'm holding on, I'm holding on!" Dad answered, breathing heavily.<\/p>\n\n

Sasha pedaled and looked ahead of him \u2014 at the path, at the trees, at the shiny stone lying ahead. He remembered his mother's words: when you ride, look where you want to go. Not at the wheel. Not at your feet. At the horizon.<\/p>\n\n

They drove down an alley. Then another. Sasha heard his father's heavy breathing next to him and felt calmer.<\/p>\n\n

Then suddenly, Sasha turned around. Just like that, to see if Dad was tired.<\/p>\n\n

Dad wasn't around.<\/p>\n\n

Sasha froze. Dad was standing far behind him\u2014ten meters away, no less. He was standing on the path, his hands on his waist, and\u2026 smiling.<\/p>\n\n

"Dad!" Sasha shouted in horror. "Dad, I'm falling!"<\/p>\n\n

But he didn't fall. He rode. Alone.<\/p>\n\n

Sasha turned forward again \u2014 and wobbled. The bike swayed to the left, then to the right. Sasha almost fell. His heart was pounding in his throat. His legs were shaking. His hands were cold.<\/p>\n\n

But \u2014 somehow \u2014 he held on. He straightened the steering wheel. He straightened his body. And drove a little more. Slowly. And more. And stopped, putting his feet on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\u0425\u043b\u043e\u043f\u0447\u0438\u043a<\/figure>\n\n\n

Only then did he cry. Not from fear. From surprise.<\/p>\n\n

Dad ran over. He squatted down and hugged his son.<\/p>\n\n

"Did you see it?" he asked quietly. "You yourself, Sasha. You drove it yourself.".<\/p>\n\n

"You were tricking me!" Sasha pursed his lips. Tears were rolling down his cheeks - but without pain.<\/p>\n\n

Dad nodded seriously.<\/p>\n\n

\u2014 Yes. I was cheating. Because you could have done it yourself, son. You just didn't know. And if I had told you, "I'm letting you go," you would have been scared, asked me to hold on, and wouldn't have driven. And so, you drove the whole ten meters by yourself. Isn't that a miracle?<\/p>\n\n

Sasha thought. He wiped his tears with his sleeve.<\/p>\n\n

\u2014 Yes. I could.<\/p>\n\n

"You can do it now. Sometimes the best help is to quietly let go when a person is ready. You just need someone around who can see that you're ready, even when you can't see it yourself.".<\/p>\n\n

Sasha thought about these words for a long time. Then he looked at his bicycle. It looked different now. It's not scary.<\/p>\n\n

"I want more," said Sasha.<\/p>\n\n

"Only now, by myself," said Dad. "From the very beginning. I won't even touch the saddle.".<\/p>\n\n

\u2014 Agreed.<\/p>\n\n

Sasha sat down. He put his feet on the pedals. He gave one push - the bike wobbled. The second push - it started. The third - it started more smoothly.<\/p>\n\n

Dad stood still and didn't move. He just watched.<\/p>\n\n

Sasha drove down the alley to the end. He turned around slowly, leaning on his foot. And drove back. He was no longer afraid. He knew: he could.<\/p>\n\n

When he drove up to his dad, he raised both hands.<\/p>\n\n

"Did you see it?" Sasha shouted.<\/p>\n\n

"I saw it," Dad nodded.<\/p>\n\n

They were walking home late in the evening. Sasha rode his bike alongside him, confidently and proudly. And when they sat down to eat dinner, his mother asked if Sasha had learned.<\/p>\n\n

Sasha thought for a long time before answering. Then he said:<\/p>\n\n

"Mom, it turns out I've always been good at it. I just didn't know it.".<\/p>\n\n

Mom looked at Dad. Dad winked. And put another plate on the table - especially delicious maple syrup with pancakes. Because a day like this should be celebrated.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n

\u2728 We are always capable of more than we think \u2728<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

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Sasha rode a two-wheeled bicycle for the first time \u2014 with his dad holding the saddle. And when he turned around, he saw that his dad was no longer around. And suddenly he realized: he was riding alone.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3060,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":"","footnotes":""},"kategoriya":[10],"vik":[20],"zhanr":[25,24],"class_list":["post-363","kazka","type-kazka","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","kategoriya-kazky-pro-ditej","vik-vik-5-plus","zhanr-25","zhanr-24"],"acf":{"emoji":"\u2600\ufe0f","moral":"\u041c\u0438 \u0437\u0430\u0432\u0436\u0434\u0438 \u0432\u043c\u0456\u0454\u043c\u043e \u0431\u0456\u043b\u044c\u0448\u0435, \u043d\u0456\u0436 \u0434\u0443\u043c\u0430\u0454\u043c\u043e","image_1_prompt":"Copilot: boy in red cap on bike looking back at dad waving","image_2_url":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/khlopchyk-z-velosypeda-2-v2.jpg","image_2_prompt":"Copilot: father holding handlebars while son sits on bike"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kazka\/363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kazka"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/kazka"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kazka\/363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3062,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kazka\/363\/revisions\/3062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kategoriya","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kategoriya?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"vik","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vik?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"zhanr","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/zhanr?post=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}