teaching daughter to skate/blade question

[jebnolte]

My 4 year old daughter really wants to figure skate. She has watched it on TV and is determined to do it. I used to be a skater myself but haven't skated in 11 years (except for this past week). I took her to the rink twice and the first time we rented a pair of skates and I tried showing her to march on the ice and she was sliding everywhere. When my brother in law found out she loved skating, he decided to buy her a pair of skates (Riedell). I wasn't going to get her a pair until I knew she was for sure going to stick to it. Anyway, with the new skates, she can run in them off the ice and on the ice she can march but doesn't move forward on the ice very much. These skates have a lot more ankle support, but she is definately not gliding at all with these. I am hoping it is because the blades haven't been sharpened. The Pro Shop wasn't open when we went so I left them overnight to be sharpened. Does this make a huge differnce with new skates?

My main question is, how do you teach a 4 year old to skate? I taught the marching and tried to teach swivels. But all she does is pretty much stand in one spot and march in place. Is this normal for a child at first? And she is terrified of falling. I try and tell her that is is okay to fall and that is doesn't hurt and showed her other kids that were falling but she still has that fear.

Any pointers will be helpful. I am probably going to put her in the Learn to Skate program that starts in a few weeks, but wanted to make sure she liked it first.

Thanks,
Julie

[sk8er1964]

My son wanted to learn to skate at that age for hockey. I tried to teach him a couple of times, and learned an important lesson -- Learn to Skate classes are a great thing! Seriously, I put him into learn to skate, and he was with other kids his age, which made it more fun for him, and when we were together on the ice it was only fun time for us.

[flippet]

I am hoping it is because the blades haven't been sharpened. Does this make a huge differnce with new skates?

YES!!!

Even 'good' skates like Riedell will only come with a 'factory sharpening'...which isn't much of a sharpening at all. Sports store skates usually aren't sharpened at all, and it's the rare parent who knows this. Thus, the kids slide around and can't skate worth beans, and think it's too hard or no fun.

It's a very good idea to put her into lessons. The coach will often be able to coax more out of a child than her parent can--it's just a different dynamic. Plus, they have a lot of 'tricks' up their sleeves. (Sometimes quite literally!--toys or scarves or markers and such.)

Starting with swizzles and marching is great. It's about all most kids are capable of right at first, anyway. Do you have a helmet for her? That may help with her fear of falling--and the skate school may require one for tots anyway. Also, you can work with her on how to fall--start by 'falling' off-ice, and teach her the right way to get up--turn over onto all fours, then slowly stand up. Her coach should work with the kids on this as well. It can take away a lot of the fear, if they do it 'on purpose', and learn that it doesn't hurt if you do it right, and learn how to get up without falling again.

If it's just a few weeks until the classes start, you may want to not worry about 'teaching' her much of anything yet. Just getting out there and letting her march around while holding onto the wall is probably enough, or letting you pull her around slowly (but only if you're stable enough yourself and can swizzle backwards with ease--if you're wobbly, don't try it--and only if the rink is reasonably empty). Let her take the lead with what you do, so that it's still fun to her, and doesn't turn into an exercise in pleasing Mommy, which can backfire with lots of kids.

[doubletoe]

Yes, I think most kids try to walk on the ice instead of pushing and gliding because it's all they know! I recently gave a 5-year old her first skating lesson and that's what she tried to do, too. So I pulled her and let her just glide on the ice without doing anything (to get the feeling of gliding). But I insisted that she bend her knees while I pulled her. I kept telling her, "Pretend you're sitting down in a chair." That helped her get her bottom lower to the ice while keeping her back straight, instead of breaking at the waist and falling forward.

Then, I let her hold both of my hands and I pulled her while telling her, "Bring toes together, push toes out. Bring toes together, push toes out." That helped her to get the outside and inside edges going. Finally, when she was doing that pretty well, I asked her to do it without holding onto me. She was scared and refused. I told her it wasn't scary to fall and that you only get to be a good skater if you fall a lot. Then I "fell" with her, showing her how to sit down on the ice and roll, and laughing.

After that, she was willing to try the forward outside-inside edges by herself, and before long, she was propelling herself forward on the ice using her edges instead of trying to walk or march. After that, I taught her regular stroking: "Feet together, sit down, push out. Feet together, sit down, push out". Starting from a position with both feet together, I would have her "sit down in the chair," then push out to the right on her right foot, then bring the feet back together again, "sit down in the chair," and then push out onto the left foot. The "sit down" part taught her to bend before pushing, which gave her a better push and better balance.

I hope some of this helps! :)

[dbny]

I teach tots all the time. Put her in classes or get a few short private lessons. You don't just put a tot (or anyone) on the ice. I always do about 5 minutes off ice first, showing how to stand, how to fall, how to get up, etc.
There are preps for doing swizzles too, you don't just do them and expect the student to copy. Only a few very, very talented kids will be able to copy swizzles without any prep. It's great that she wants to skate, and I second the suggestion to get a helmet. Most schools will not allow kids 6 and under on the ice without a helmet, and one school that I work at requires all beginners to wear helmets. By the way, don't expect her to glide much until after she has swizzles, as they teach the push needed for gliding.

[Thin-Ice]

A friend's 3-year-old daughter wanted to learn to skate, so I was recruited as her "first coach". The first thing we did was (on a fairly empty session) go sit on the ice. First on one hip, then the other, then on the full bottom, then go through it again and again. After she realized the ice was cold but wasn't going to be terrible, I taught her to get up: first on all-fours like a puppy, "now bark like a puppy" -- (we both barked, so it was still part of the game), now stand up on one foot, while the other knee is still on the ice, now stand all the way up, "wow, you're all the way up like a big girl! Now let's do it again". That went on for about 5-6 minutes. When she was tired of that, we did two foot glides and played to see who could "sit down" the fastest. Of course, she could, because she was closer to the ice.. and the idea she could do something better than me made her want to keep trying. After a few times, she realized the sitting down was really falling.. but by then, it didn't matter. I don't think she's going to stick with the sport... but she went to another kid's birthday party at a rink, and she was comfortable on the ice and had a great time... while the other kids were just getting used to the concept of getting footing on something that slippery and cold. Her Mom later told me, she had the other little kids "barking like puppies before they got up" -- probably not a good idea for someone who wants to compete (I wonder what a judge would do if a small child barked during the program?) -- but they were having fun.

[slusher]

I agree with starting sitting on the ice, even at an adult age! Learning to get up is the most important thing, and in doing so, you fall from various heights. Then it doesn't seem so bad. Along the way of learning to get up, you find your edges too.

In Skate Canada Canskate level 1, there's something called "making snow". Stand on one foot, push the other out to the side, scrape some ice up into snow. Do it on the other foot. Make a snowman. Try that before trying swizzles.


Canskate level 1 (http://www.mintoskatingclub.com/skating_programs/canskate/level1.shtml)