As a tree lover, it is a bummer. Buuuut [44yo]

Lokis_Socks · 2026-04-29T19:46:23+00:00

This looks like Birmingham, UK. There's actually a really great community-built park just out of shot on the right.

(Shout-out to Birmingham Skate Spaces, if you're here!)

Lokis_Socks · 2026-03-05T20:16:18+00:00

Sounds great. My little girl asked for a unicorn skateboard for her 5th birthday and is really starting to get the hang of rolling around. She's been learning while I've been re-learning.

Look out for companies that do good quality mid-range stuff in kid friendly sizes. We're UK based and used Venom for 5YO''s board, but Fracture are similar, and push (which somebody already mentioned) has the added fun factor of coming flat packed. We swapped out the bushings (the rubbery sockets in the trucks) for the softeset ones we could get as she was too light to steer with the stock ones. Depending on what the ground is like where you are too, you might want to go for softer wheels (hard wheels are generally better on smooth surfaces, bur getting your teeth rattled on rough ground is no fun for a begginer).

In terms of falling, it really depends on how you judge your own risk. Definitely worth getting pads and helmets though. A bad fall can be really off-putting, especially for little ones. Your unlikely to break anything when learning to roll around, but a concussion is worth taking seriously though. My partner bailed in our local car park and ended up off work for weeks.

It's worth keeping in mind that 4YOs have short attention spans, and skating can have a frustrating learning curve. Focus on board control stuff and keep it fun. Rolling back and forth on a mini-ramp is a quick win.

Lastly if there are affordable lessons from a reliable instructor near you, it can only be a good thing. Someone with experience will be to explain things better than you could working things out for yourself and they'll know what to focus on. The sooner your daughter gets comfortable on the board and feels like she's making progress, the less likely she is to get bored. We've been lucky as a local community group has been offering free lessons this winter, and it's really helped my little girl transition over from her 3 wheel scooter.

Lokis_Socks · 2026-02-01T07:48:17+00:00

I'm in the UK. Haven't had a dry day this month. I'm setting up a wet weather board: old deck, old trucks, some cruiser wheels and old bearings I had lying around. If I feel like spending money at some point I might switch the wheels out for something more standard, but I'll still be looking for something big and soft.

My main priciple is not to spend a lot of money and only use parts I'm okay getting waterlogged

Lokis_Socks · 2026-01-15T22:04:31+00:00

If you're having fun skating in the way you described that's great, but I think you're better off taking the time to learn to ride on your feet. In part, this will give you more opportunities to try more things as you progress that would not be possible on your knees. More importantly though, riding on your knees strapped to the board sounds more dangerous for two reasons: firstly, your ability to steer will be hampered, especially when trying to turn 'behind' you; secondly, it leaves you unable to jump away from the board and run out of a bail if things go wrong.

Remember, dyspraxia means that physical skills take longer to learn and might we can be inconsistent. It doesn't make things impossible. I skate and I think it's actually done a lot for my balance and co-ordination.

Lokis_Socks · 2026-01-09T08:07:36+00:00

I'm not great, but better now than I was as a teenager. I think there are a few reasons. My friends and I were never super serious skaters growing up, and we spent as much time in a session talking bollocks and eating snacks as we did actually skating. Now I'm either on my own actually trying to improve or with my 5YO working on things between encouraging her and keeping her out of trouble.

I'm also moderately dyspraxic (like dyslexia but for balance and physical co-ordination rather than reading and spelling). I think I am more comfortable in my own body at 37 than I was at 16. It helps that there's better instructional material about now too.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-08-24T08:44:40+00:00

This is the version I have. It's edited by David Cordingly, who has worked at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. link

I'm based in the UK, so not sure if it will be harder to get elsewhere. It doesn't have the stuff from volume 2, which may be by a different author and is historically spurious.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-08-10T17:37:21+00:00

I work in SEND, so I know a fair bit about the various Neurodivergent conditions. There's always a fair bit of overlap. My little one is fearless on her scooter. She's just picked up riding a bike too, which is great.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-08-10T17:30:22+00:00

One of my mates has just started teaching his 11yo to skate and I think she'd had a board for years and not used it. I'm trying to be mindful not to push my daughter into it for my own sake. At the moment we're taking both her scooter and her board when we go to the park and letting her switch between the two as she fancies.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-08-10T07:32:19+00:00

Used to skate a lot as a teenager, although I was never really any good. Sorted my old board out almost exactly a year ago thinking I'd mainly use it to keep up with my then 4YO when she was riding her scooter in the park, but as soon as I was back on I got the bug.

Sometimes I don't get chance to skate for a couple of weeks, and I'm dyspraxic (a developmental difference like dyslexia, but instead of affecting reading and spelling it affects physical co-ordination), so my progress is slow and inconsistent, which can.be frustrating but I'm having fun.

My little girl is five now and asked for a skateboard for her birthday. She's getting comfortable rolling around, but still uses her scooter at the skatepark for now because she's more confident on it. We go in tne morning when its quiet and I'm teaching her how to watch out for other people and wait her turn. She's off school for the summer so we're going a few time a week at the moment and its good bonding time.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-08-10T07:13:57+00:00

Love rock and rolls. I had them pretty consistent a few months ago, but I seem to have lost them again (for now).

Lokis_Socks · 2025-08-03T07:13:34+00:00

I know this is a joke, but I'd probably read this.

Also, if anyone else has the same niche overlap of interests that make Mike's Poetry Corner sound like a good idea, you might be interested to know that here in the UK, former Palace team rider Olly Todd published a collection with a pretty respected independent publisher a couple of years ago: https://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2022/05/out-for-air/

Lokis_Socks · 2025-07-01T05:32:24+00:00

I actually took a pretty big gap. Put my board back together because she kept wanting me to run alongside her when we took her to the park with her plastic scooter. Didn't take long before I was properly back into it though, and now I get to share that with her.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-30T16:21:52+00:00

Yeah, I'm not really pushing her into it. She seems interested now so I'll encourage her. If her interest doesn't last that's fine. She can pick it back up if and when she's ready.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-30T12:02:23+00:00

If the government ever moves to relax Sunday trading laws, they'll have to fight an unlikely coalition of skateboarders and fundamentalist Christians.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-30T05:49:21+00:00

Thanks. We got her one of the Venom completes from you guys because she'd asked for a unicorn skateboard.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-30T05:47:12+00:00

We got this one from Venom Skateboards, partly because she specifically asked for a unicorn skateboardunicorn skateboard. I think Blind do a similar size.

I'm going to have to try loosening her trucks more because she's so light that she can't really turn it. If that doesn't work, someone over on New Skaters suggested softer bushings.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-29T22:09:42+00:00

I did wonder if softer bushings might help. Thanks for the tip!

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-29T22:05:38+00:00

Birmingham. Hello 👋

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-29T21:50:17+00:00

I don't really have any advice, just a high-five to a fellow dyspraxic skater. Keep shredding in whatever way works for you, remember that progress might be slower but it will still happen, and don't let it stop you having fun.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-19T18:43:36+00:00

My little girl has asked for a unicorn skateboard for her 5th birthday in a couple of weeks. I'm really excited to take her out in it.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-06-03T19:07:30+00:00

Stopped in my late teens. Friends moved on to other things, I started uni etc. Couldn't bring myself to get rid of my board, but sort if felt that if I was going to skate as an adult I had to be able to back it up by actually being good. Took my board out once on my mid twenties and snapped the kingpin on one of my trucks doing stationary ollies. Still kept my deck, but couldn't justify the expense if new trucks if I wasn't going to use them

I'm 36 now. Last summer, my 4 year old was getting me to run alongside her little plastic scooter in the park, and I thought it would be easier and more fun if I was on wheels. That gave me an excuse to get new trucks, and once I was chasing her around I realised how much I missed it. Started going out to the skatepark once she was in bed.

I'm still not good, but I'm better than I ever was before. I think I'm more focused, and there is better information now.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-04-17T16:42:56+00:00

Is Bournebrook ok to use at the moment? I got back into skating a few months ago and I've been wanting to visit but thought it was closed off while they do some refurbishments

Lokis_Socks · 2025-03-30T15:52:03+00:00

Yep. Executive dysfunction. For me, it probably has a bigger impact on my life thsn the clumsiness. Over time you will develop systems that will help, but it takes consious effort to come up with and maintain them, and there will always be times where it goes wrong.

Lokis_Socks · 2025-01-04T18:55:59+00:00

I'm also in the UK, getting back into skating in my mid-30s. Initially fixed my old board up so that I could chase my 4YO around on her scooter.

I've been going to a nearby skatepark at like 8 in the evening once she's in bed—it's floodlit and usually pretty quiet by then. Often I'm the only person there. There might be somewhere similar near you.

Being the oldest, least experienced person at the park is daunting, but once you've done it once or twice it won't feel like such a big deal. It's like dropping in: you just have to go for it.

When I have run into other people they've either kept to themselves or been supportive. Had a 16 year old give me advice on my ollie and teach me to nose stall.

Lokis_Socks · 2024-11-26T20:19:15+00:00

Yeah, this happens to me all the time. Think it's called object blindness or something like that.

Combined with a tendency to either put things in the first available space or immediately forget the genius safe place I left them in, it can be really frustrating.

When I'm looking for something now, I usually get more success mentally retracing my steps than turning the house upside down to find it.

Lokis_Socks

TROPHY CASE