Skateboarding
As Free Range Kids recently posted, skateboarding can seem way too dangerous to us adults. Even when we want to give our kids a free and adventerous childhood, I think it’s easier to picture “old-fashioned” adventures. Much easier to accept building a raft and floating it out on the pond, climbing trees, or even racing homemade go-carts. But are those things any safer or better than skateboarding? Does skateboarding just have a bad image because we automatically picture delinquents and graffitti going with it?
Well, while I was in the hospital, DH purchased a skateboard for Carbon’s birthday. We had discussed this idea, and decided to wait a year and give him a fishing pole this year instead. The plan changed when he went shopping by himself. It’s OK, though, because he also got all the safety gear and a fishing pole also! (I am not the only one who can be accused of having a shopping problem, which is good to know for future “discussions”.)
Carbon has been falling a lot, but he’s not bothered by it. He just gets right back up. He wasn’t this brave and daring when we gave him the bike – I really wonder if he’s just getting older or if the skateboard just appeals more to him. He’s practicing in our driveway, and yesterday we took him to a neighborhood park that has a small ramp set up for little kids. It’s a “boring” ramp, so I always see little kids on it and the teens don’t seem to frequent it at all.
He loves it! And I hope he keeps on loving it, and trying tricks, and being happy with his skills and sense of daring. I hope we don’t have any accidents or trips to the doctor because of it. But even if we do, he’ll be OK. I’m letting him grow up, with what I think is reasonable safety (the helmit and pads are not coming off), and reasonable freedom.
I recognize the park
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I have a fondness for skateboards, and had several as a kid, though I never became particularly adept at anything but straight horizontal travel when nothing was in my way.
Actually, once when I was like 10 years old or so, I took my “God brother,” who must have been a couple years old, on my skateboard with me. I would put him on the front, and then I would ride and push while standing on the back. We would go up and down the sidewalk in front of my house. We were pretty free-range kids. There was one incident when I hit a rock and we both went flying, and that was NOT good, but no teeth were lost or anything, and he recovered after a lot of tears.
When G. and I met, she had a collection of skateboards. I’ll show her your post because I’m sure she’ll be thrilled for Carbon.