I'd say through about 90% of the post I was wondering if you'd really not heard about balance bikes. It was only at the end that I realized the point of the story was the power of looking for more options.

One wonders how many HN commenters stepped out before that conclusion was given. Adopting BLUF[1] may help in that regard!

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLUF_(communication)