a skating incident
nellebelle
Lisa has been skating outdoors, in our front yard and on the sidewalk, in a pair of in-line skates that I bought at a thrift store a couple of years ago.The wheels have become very worn, and one front wheel finally fell off. I took her to a sporting goods store, but found I couldn't afford new skates and buying new wheels was also pretty spendy. I checked a thrift shop and found an identical pair to those she has been using, except with nice wheels, and bought them.
She says they don't feel right, because she is used to worn down wheels and the newer ones have a slightly thicker liner (due to being less worn, I think, as it looks like the same liner.) I said I didn't mind if she kept wearing the old. (The new ones were only $3.99 and I figured that eventually she would probably switch to the newer ones anyway.)
Today, Pat (dh) told her she needs to stop wearing the old ones because they "don't work". He said she "can't" skate on skates that are missing a front wheel. When he said this, she'd been skating around for about half an hour, in addition to skating at least an hour yesterday. I pointed out that she was skating on them, so it wasn't true that they "don't work". I asked if he meant that he felt they weren't as safe with a missing wheel and he said yes. She looked like she was about to cry and decided to not skate at all for awhile, but is back out there now with a friend.
I said that I was trying to see both POVs. I said I understood his concern that the older skates might not be as safe, but pointed out that most kids do fall down sometimes while skating, no matter how good their skates are. He said it is up to us (parents) to *teach* them about things like not using damaged skates, but he wasn't going to argue about it any more.
Although it may be true that the older skates are riskier, it doesn't seem to be a huge risk to me. It's not as if she is skating competetively or doing trick- or speed- skating. She mostly skates in our driveway or her friend's driveway. He thinks we should throw the old skates away and insist that she use the newer ones. I think we should let her decide.
Mary Ellen
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She says they don't feel right, because she is used to worn down wheels and the newer ones have a slightly thicker liner (due to being less worn, I think, as it looks like the same liner.) I said I didn't mind if she kept wearing the old. (The new ones were only $3.99 and I figured that eventually she would probably switch to the newer ones anyway.)
Today, Pat (dh) told her she needs to stop wearing the old ones because they "don't work". He said she "can't" skate on skates that are missing a front wheel. When he said this, she'd been skating around for about half an hour, in addition to skating at least an hour yesterday. I pointed out that she was skating on them, so it wasn't true that they "don't work". I asked if he meant that he felt they weren't as safe with a missing wheel and he said yes. She looked like she was about to cry and decided to not skate at all for awhile, but is back out there now with a friend.
I said that I was trying to see both POVs. I said I understood his concern that the older skates might not be as safe, but pointed out that most kids do fall down sometimes while skating, no matter how good their skates are. He said it is up to us (parents) to *teach* them about things like not using damaged skates, but he wasn't going to argue about it any more.
Although it may be true that the older skates are riskier, it doesn't seem to be a huge risk to me. It's not as if she is skating competetively or doing trick- or speed- skating. She mostly skates in our driveway or her friend's driveway. He thinks we should throw the old skates away and insist that she use the newer ones. I think we should let her decide.
Mary Ellen
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Put the new wheels on the old skates.
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