FirstBIKE™ Joins Partnership for a Healthier America to Get Children Moving from an Early Age

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) March 30, 2014

The FirstBIKE Company (FirstBIKE) today became a partner of the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and PHA Honorary Chair First Lady Michelle Obama to help end the childhood obesity crisis. FirstBIKE commits to donate an annual minimum of 1,300 bikes to YMCA of the USA (Y) and other organizations over the next three years. The Y was selected to receive FirstBIKE balance bikes because of the nonprofit commitment to PHA, as well as its commitment to improving the nation’s health and well-being. As a result of this donation, the Y will enable more children to enjoy fun, physical activity and develop a joy for biking at an early age.

“FirstBIKE’s main goal is to encourage children to get active and moving from a very early age (22 months +), while providing a unique, fun, and safe method for doing so. Our balance bikes are designed to assist children in developing a healthy lifestyle from early childhood, rather than attempting to alter unhealthy behavioral patterns later,” says Joseph Rumley, Chief Marketing Officer of FirstBIKE.

FirstBIKE will donate an annual minimum of 1,300 bikes over the next three years.

“Riding a bicycle is one of the basic physical activities that many children learn at a young age and build on as they grow up,” said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. “We know that early positive physical activity experiences like riding a bike are helpful in creating lifelong healthier habits. FirstBIKE’s commitment today brings these positive experiences to families and kids across the country.”

FirstBIKE wants kids to be enthusiastic about exercise and activity, and thus produce a lasting healthy lifestyle habit using cycling as one of the main tools:

•     Children as young as 22 months can learn to ride intuitively utilizing balance bikes. Within hours, they master the sensation of keeping balance on a bike. Unlike kids on traditional pedal bikes with training wheels, toddlers and preschoolers on balance bikes can safely ride for several miles at a time and run up hills; all while having fun, spending time outdoors with their family and friends, and boosting their self-confidence. After they grow and get stronger (around age 4 - 5 years), they smoothly transfer to pedal bikes without ever needing training wheels.
•      Over the past 10 years, the worldwide trend has been to replace heavy pedal bikes with training wheels – which barely develop bike riding skills and are often blacklisted by pediatricians – with intuitive and light-weight learning bikes called balance bikes.
•     Balance bikes have also become common equipment at many early childcare centers, preschools, gyms, amusement parks, and city bike rentals. They are now becoming more prevalent in the US.

The following video illustrates the balance bike method of learning to ride a bike: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB7ntnei6PQ.

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About FirstBIKE™ Balance Bikes

FirstBIKE’s mission is to distribute the safest, highest quality, and most well designed balance bikes on the market. Additionally, FirstBIKE seeks to educate the general public about the many benefits of balance bikes and their significant advantages over more traditional pedal bikes with training wheels.

FirstBIKE was developed by Ralf Coerschulte, an avid German cyclist, product designer, and father of three; with one goal: to build the best balance bike for younger children, allowing them to learn to ride a bike intuitively and without stress. After years of fine-tuning and testing, he succeeded in creating a unique product that is deemed to be the safest in its category. FirstBIKE has also proven to be a great helper when it comes to the development of a child’s motor skills, self-confidence, and enjoyment of learning.

FirstBIKE has recently garnered an impressive array of industry prizes including Creative Child Magazine Product of the Year Award, Creative Child Magazine Top Toy of the Year Award, Dr. Toy 10 Best Active Products, The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval, The Toy Man Award of Excellence, Parent Tested Parent Approved Award, Tillywig Top Fun Award, and the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Toy Award. All bikes meet or exceed U.S. safety standards. FirstBIKE regularly passes independent lab tests and holds numerous certifications and awards for product design, quality, and safety. Every FirstBIKE proudly comes with a Lifetime Warranty on the frame and fork and a 5-year warranty on all other parts. To browse FirstBIKE’s product videos and offerings, visit http://www.firstbike.us.

About Partnership for a Healthier America

The Partnership for a Healthier America is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation’s youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation’s most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased, third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit http://www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.

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