Skateboarding – a Kid’s Essential Outdoor Activity
I remember the funny look on my wife’s face the first time I brought her to meet my parents. On the way back that evening she asked me about the holes above the baseboard in the hallway with a concerned tone. Sure, my dad might be loud and in your face sometimes, but he’s actually a mild-mannered man that would never lay his hands on anyone. The holes (just the same height as your typical, average…skateboard), turns out, were all my fault. And I still couldn’t believe my parents kept them after all these years.
As a kid growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, skateboarding was all the craze. And, I being a daredevil since I was born, was the one with the sleekest tricks and turns on the street. My friends admired me, chicks seemed to dig me, and my parents… were furious. They themselves were never involved in the sport, so normally they’d think it was incredibly dangerous. But the more they pushed me to keep safe, even buying me many different helmets for skateboarding, the more I avoided skate protective gear. And in the best case, I’d come home covered in bruises. In the worst – I suffered a mild concussion.
But my personal experience inspired me to take a different approach with my son because skateboarding is still an essential outdoor activity for kids. It’s all about how you present it, and with a 7-year-old this was a piece of cake. We went on the internet to shop for some great skateboard shoes and a trendy new shirt, and the site we happened to visit just happened to be the one of a skate-shop which also happened to sell some.. you guessed it – cool helmets for skateboarding with matching knee and elbow pads. Soon, my son became excited about the prospect of owning his first protective gear in his favourite colour. As he put it: Wow, I’d get to have my own skating uniform, how cool is that!
Sure, not every parent will be lucky enough to get their kid into protective gear on the first go, but you should never stop trying! This sport is an easy way for a kid to get hurt, especially when skating around a rocky surface not wearing protection and just fancy skate apparel. A young child’s scalp is very fragile and falling down from a board unprotected can result in a dangerous concussion. Helmets for skateboarding are built with extreme care to prevent this from happening. Look for one with a sticker that says it complies with the ASTM F1492 skateboard helmet standard. A strong strap and buckle which can be tightly fastened and remain snug while your child rides is a must!
Early introduction to protective gear will also teach your kid to form healthy habits about skateboarding. Even as you become more experienced in this hobby or sport, you still risk getting hurt. Actually, as the difficulty of the tricks grows, so does the risk of injury. And the road is always covered with rocks that just wait silently to trip you.
