Teaching An Older Child To Ride A Bike -- Hint, It Sucks

I had the opportunity--I was press ganged because of a familial relationship--to teach an older child to ride a bike.  The kid is 11 and not very athletic.  His mother was unwilling and/or unable to teach the little bastard, so I was the likely victim because of that accursed family connection to which I would never admit in public.  The biggest problem I found was that the kid was kind of a pussy and not very good at following directions.  He was also riding a BMX bike, but that was probably a help at first.  He had trouble with the glide-down-the-grassy-slope-with-seat-low-and-no-pedals.  It took way too long to graduate to pedals on and then actual pedaling.  I split the suffering over two days, and what should have taken between one and two hours finally finished with the guy being able to pedal and wobble his way around a grassy field as well as an empty parking lot.  If his mother gives him the opportunity to ride for practice and manages to scare up a proper bike--since the kid is around 5'4", he's already in the solid middle of the mountain bike size range as well as too tubby for a road bike--he will probably do all right, but it sucks to learn when you are that old.  It sucks to teach it too, especially when the kid is not motivated and focused on learning and riding.  I had much better luck with the younger girls who were happy to be learning and had some athletic experience making them more coachable and focused.  Or just get every kid a scooter bike for their second birthday and let them putz around for 2-3 years before they hop right on a 20" wheeled mountain bike and ride away.  More balance bikes for toddlers, and I will be golden.