My five year old can skate. I can't. That's going to change this year

Posted Jan 5, 2012 By Sarah Crosbie

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(See hard copy for illustration).

(See hard copy for illustration).

EMC Lifestyle - There must come a time in every parent's life when you look at your child and realize that - even at a very young age - he has trumped your skill level in something and is now better than you.

Like skating.

We put our son in skating lessons when he was three years old. It was more of a back workout for my husband who held up our son's little 20-pound body and skated around to the Black Eyed Peas at the Invista Centre. Then, at age four, we put him in more lessons with the Kingston Area Minor Hockey Association (KAMHA).

At his first lesson, he spent most of his time sliding around on his bum. Then he learned to stand up on his own. And then he learned to skate backwards. And then he learned to change direction.

This year, he's back at Centre 70. He's gliding. He's doing snowplow stops. He's bending his knees.

He's skating.

And, so, with 29 years age difference between us, my kid is now a much better skater than I am.

When I was little, I didn't know any girls who played hockey. I had one friend who played ringette, but most of us thought it was weird she had boy black skates, instead of the pretty white figure skating boots.

I never took skating lessons or spent any time at the rink since my younger brother hated skating, said skates hurt his feet, and promptly quit anything that had to do with being on the ice.

It wasn't until I married my husband that I realized how important it was for a kid to be able to play hockey. His son played hockey and soon, terms like "pee wee", "bantam" and "midget" were part of our world and we were at the rink every week.

Almost every person in my family has had a weight problem - two boys used to call my home when I was in Grade 7 and say I was so fat, my 'boobs' looked like I stole them from Dolly Parton.

Skating is an incredible workout. Anything that keeps me and my son healthy (and lean) is a good thing.

But, more importantly, it was clear how being on a hockey team gives your child an instant band of brothers.

My son needed to learn to skate.

Right after Christmas this year, we took our son to Market Square to skate outside. The rink was jammed. Teenage girls - dressed inappropriately in nothing but skinny jeans and sweatshirts - were skating and texting at the same time. Let me sound like an old fart here: skexting (skating + texting) is incredibly ridiculous.

Teenage boys were showing off their mad skating skills trying to impress the girls who only wanted to look at their phones.

Older couples were gliding around hand-in-hand.

And parents were holding up their kids underneath their armpits trying to prevent them from falling onto their bums.

And then there was my son, happily skating around with his father - while I sat on the cold, hard bench, feeling like the outcast kid at the high school dance.

The physical expectations we put on our kids are amazing: Get on the ice in funny boots with blades on the bottom. Jump in the deep end. Learn to dribble and run at the same time. And, yet, most of us (me included) will find non-stop excuses so that we don't have to step on a treadmill or an elliptical machine - not nearly as scary as getting on the ice.

It wasn't fun watching my son from the sidelines.

I've benched myself with my life-long refusal to try.

And, so 2012 will be the year I learn to skate.

I understand you may laugh at me: I'm thinking I'm going to stuff a pillow down my pants to lessen the pain of the butt landings.

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Sarah Crosbie can be heard weekdays on K-Rock 105.7 starting at 5:30 a.m. and found at sarahcrosbie.com.

scrosbie@theemc.ca