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my experience with my now 9yo, who started skateboarding at a similar age (late 5yo I think):
After a bit of rolling along as you described, I spent some time getting her to get used to just standing on and stepping off the board whilst stationary. At that age it’s actually a big step to go from rolling along, with both feet on the board, to having the confidence to take one foot off and do the slight crouch necessary to put the foot on the floor, wether to step off of to push along. The more confident they are with that motion the better.
If they get used to stepping on and off the board without feeling all wobbly, then they’ll have more confidence in how the board acts underneath them.
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No offense, but you're overthinking this. Pushing on a skateboard is not rocket science, it's very much a learning by doing thing.
If it were my kid I'd probably do some playful balance exercises with them if I noticed that they're having difficulties with this in general (think tree pose / moving your arms around while standing on one leg etc.) - and do some falling-down-on-purpose (in a sandpit or something) so they loose the fear of falling a bit (it will happen), and learn how to fall safely.
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Turn it into a game?
Who can balance on one foot the longest?
How many times can you step in a row?
(Crouch, place foot, stand up)I’d do it like any other training. Whole part whole. Break the action into its parts, and focus on making each of those a game/exercise in itself.
See how long they can balance on a static board on one foot, then give them a nudge forward, eventually the pushing with the other foot comes.
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AlexD
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@cornelius_blackfoot
Quick kid skating question, jnr is almost 6 and enjoys going to school and various places on their skateboard, I pull them along and every so often give them a bit of a push so they ride along solo, balancing on the board by themselves, until they slow I catch up take their hand and pull them along again.
Their balance is pretty good whilst moving, my question is how do you incorporate pushing into this routine?
How did you start your kids off pushing? How long did it take ( I know it’s a bit of an open ended question) before they were confident/competent at pushing themselves?
There’s a skate school in peckham that I’m thinking of taking them to maybe during a half term early next year, if they’re still showing an interest which might be a good if they haven’t started pushing themselves by then, as I’m only just learning to skateboard myself, so don’t want to be teaching them bad habits.