I've Had The Time Of My Life - The First Skating Lesson

As a semi-suburban kid growing up in the 1980's one of my first tastes of freedom was Friday nights at the local skating rink when I was in middle school.  My parents would drop me off there shortly after dinner and pick me up around 9PM when public skating had ended.  Although I wasn't a good skater by any means, I was proficient enough and had a good time.  Most of the time at the rink was centred around me and my closest friends harassing the kid who ran the music that played over the loud speakers at the rink long enough that he'd play one side of a cassette tape of our choice.  Our choice was ALWAYS the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack, and it didn't take that kid long to realize that it was easiest to just let us listen to our tape and skate around in our interpretation of Dirty Dancing dance moves on ice.

This past Saturday the minions had their very first skating lesson (with eight more to follow), but here's what my takeaways were...

Miss Molly Before Her Very First Lesson

8 Lessons Learned From Our First Skating Lesson

1. It's going to cost a lot of money
We ended up spending less than $100 combined for the lessons, but safety approved helmets with cages, skate sharpening, and skate guards set us back another $165 bucks.  Thankfully the helmets are adjustable and should last them both for another two years or so, but ouch!

2. Bring lots of socks
No matter how careful you tell your child to be they will step in a puddle the second you take off their winter boots.  I brought a second pair of socks for each kid, but it wasn't enough since Molly soaked her first pair before she even had he skates on.  She then complained her feet were cold. Make sure there are at least three pairs of socks per child.





3. Your child is a liar
Molly refused to wear a second pair of gloves for the lesson swearing she wouldn't get too cold.  She had to tap out of her lesson 15 minutes early because (drum roll) she was cold.  For the next lesson she is going to be wearing ALL OF THE LAYERS including a toque under her helmet.

4. They will be terrible, but won't care
Most of the lesson was spent on the ground learning to get up, the rest is spent laying on the ice with Molly getting cold, but the kids didn't care.  Because the minions had asked for skating lessons and mom and dad broke down how expensive the equipment was, they knew that they needed to really try.

5. Never Underestimate the Power of What Time Is It Mr. Wolf
When we got to the rink we caught the tail end of the previous lesson all of the kids were playing what time is it Mr. Wolf.  Jack was inspired.  Despite being a literal Bambi on Ice for the entire lesson he managed to get up, stay up, and almost (sort-of) play the game.






6. Reward them
We took them to McDonalds after their first lesson.  This week I'm going to buy some hot cocoa and marshmallows for after each lesson to give them something to work towards.
7. Find their sweet spot age
Six is about perfect for the minions skating.  They are used to school, lessons and listening, but not old enough to really worry about falling and getting hurt.  Beginners tended to range in age from 4-7.
7. It doesn't matter if they're super stars
Were me and my friends amazing at our Dirty Dancing skating?  Maybe for sheer entertainment value, but no one was an Olympian, and that's cool.  Molly was a lot better on her skates than Jack was, but he was the only one who had the sticktoitiveness to stay to the end of the lesson. Both kids had fun and are looking forward to next week's lesson.  Could we ask for anything more?  Probably not.

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