Rollerskating--Part II

A year ago, my husband and I took a three year-old Lewie rollerskating for his very first time. While he did his best to keep his balance and glide around in his little skates, we decided he was still too young. (It became dangerous when we took him on the rink, and he insisted on wanting to skate against traffic!)

The thought about bringing him rollerskating again didn't come to mind until he was invited to his cousin's rollerskating birthday party. So, here we were...ready to attempt the impossible again...

Except...it wasn't impossible. In fact, I left the party that day being so proud of my little boy. We started out by renting regular little boy skates. Since the wheels were fast, my poor little boy couldn't seem to get his balance. His wobbly, little legs continuously rolled out in front of him or worse; one leg would roll forward while the other rolled backward, causing him to do a clumsy split.

I thought for sure that he would be desperately begging me to take the skates off. I feared the worst--my little boy would be scarred by the experience and never want to wear skates again ever.

Instead, he surprised me. Every time he fell, he'd say, "That's okay, Mommy. Can you help me up?"

I finally learned from another mom that I could rent "beginner skates" for Lewie, which would allow me to control the speed of the wheels. So, after an hour in the other skates, we switched to the new ones, which caused him to fall less and gave him a little more confidence.

By the end of the two hour session, my little boy was heartbroken. He didn't want to stop! "I want to keep going, Mommy," he said in tears. After a long, glum silence, he then asked, "Can we come back again?"

I learned a lot about my little boy during this party, the most important being that he's not a quitter. Even though his little butt was sore from all the falls, he never once wanted to stop. I also learned that when we introduce wheels, flashing lights, and loud music to my little boy, he produces some great disco moves.   I guess he takes after Daddy and me after all. I see many fun days at the roller rink in our future :)