I recently bought my four year old daughter new skates. The front pick on her old skates (the one closest to the ice) had been shaved-off slightly. The new skates have more of a pick, which she trips over occasionally and did a couple face-plants on the ice.

Do skaters this age need to have toe picks on the front? She is only on level 2 or 3 of her Canskate badges.

I was wondering if I should have it filed off of the new skates. I bought the skates large enough to hopefully last her through next winter season. Are picks of any use until they start jumps?

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Although not a professional, I would advise you to leave the picks alone. It makes little sense to get your child used to no picks, then to have her try to adjust to them later.

She will soon learn to skate with the picks. Hope this helps.

ITA Best for her to learn to keep her balance on the center of the blades as versus developing a lean toward the front (causing the toepicks to grab).

It may be helpful for her now not to have the toepick, but that could mess her skating up later.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

You know, I don't think the toe pick itself is the problem here. Fiddling with it is about the last thing I'd advise you to do. My guess is that a big part of the problem is that the skates are too big. If the skate is too long on her foot, the toe pick is going to be "out" where she's tripping over it. Buying skates for kids to grow into is highly inadvisable. If these are skates from a department or sporting goods store- and I'm guessing they are, because a professional skate fitter would have told you that buying them a size too big wasn't a good idea- chances are they lack adequate ankle support, which may well be adding to the problem.

You could put her into hockey skates; however, preschoolers in hockey skates tend to face-plant simply because they attempt a "walking" motion, but the rounded front of the blade rolls right out from under them as they shift their weight (too far) to the ball of the foot. That's why figure skates are usually recommended for beginners at least at first. (Plus, if she ever did want to figure skate later on, she'd have to do a fair amount of adjusting and relearning).

The best thing you can do is to take your daughter to a repuatable skate fitter and get her some skates that fit her correctly and have some degree of ankle support. Ask her Canskate instructor where you should take her.

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

The skates are only a little big. They fit perfectly with an extra pair of sock. So, I really don't think that that is too much of a problem.

They place where I bought them thought that they were fine for her (size wise).

She only seems to trip occasionally.

Even elite skaters trip over their toe picks sometimes. I mean, if you want her to play hockey then she should wear hockey skates. But if you want her to figure skate then she needs figure skates and figure blades have toepicks. She's gonna have to get used to them eventually, and if she wasn't falling because of the toepick, she'd be falling because of something else. There's always something to fall on with skating, it's part of the deal. Once she gets used to them she'll realize how far she can go before tripping over them and then her faceplant days will be over. Let her adjust, it could take a while.

If she plans on doing fs at all, then yes she needs to get used to the toe pick.
Unless your child has very very slow growing feet, she will need them replaced before next winter.B oth my kids seem to have small feet, are 4 and 5 and seem to get about 8 months or less out of skates.
Hope she has fun!!

My daughter had bruises on the front of her hips, where her hip bone slammed against the ice during a belly flop, almost continuously the year she was 4. Occasionally there were tears but most of the time I think it was harder on me than on her. At 6, her posture is much improved and she rarely catches a toepick.

Not only will your daughter need to learn to keep her weight back far enough not to catch a toepick by accident, but she will need to learn to use her toepicks as tools. I think if you just leave her and her toepicks alone, they will develop a much more comfortable relationship.

A few words on socks and fit:

Thick socks are not a good idea as they will allow the foot to move in the skate.

Wear thin socks. Basically, you want the socks to slide against the leather. Thin polyester socks are good in this respect.

If you buy children's skates too loose, they will interfere with the skating and may actually be dangerous because of lack of support. They may also repeatedly raise blisters. If you buy them too small, or have your skater continue to skate in them for some time after they have become too small, either the skater will quit (because it hurts so much), or the skating will suffer, OR the feet will suffer - perhaps permanently.

http://home.pacbell.net/anamga/boots.html#4.6

Hope this helps.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Daughter went to skating lessons this evening and did not trip over picks even once. Didn't take too long at all to get used to them. She is skating a little slower but I'm sure she will be back to her usual self in no time at all. Some of her skating drills were even better than before.

Thanks to all of you who reponded with your advice.