Skateboarding

[happymomof2]

Just curious - any of you have kids that skateboard?

My son does and loves it. I don't allow him to skate in parking lots. There are a lot of skaters out there that have no respect for people or there property and those are the ones that give the decent skaters a bad name.

The road in front of my house is a public road - it just got paved a few weeks ago. All the kids along our street are loving it. Much easier to ride bikes, rollerskate and skateboard on pavement instead of dirt.

I was kind of excited because now my son has a place close to home to skate. Of course with every good thing comes the bad. We live in a residential section, kids are everywhere out here. A lot of the cars are going faster than the 25 mph posted speed limit, and since it has gotten paved we have more traffic on the road. Son said some people come by and smile and wave at them while others flip the kids off and want to argue with them about being in the road. I do keep an eye on the kids when they are out there and from what I have seen they get off the road when cars come. O.K. they are teenagers not saying they are perfect here.

Just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with this.

Many kids and even families ride bikes through neighborhoods what so wrong about skateboarding?

 

[SaraT]

Nothing is wrong with skateboarding. My easy child daughter does it, but only in our driveway as we live on a pretty busy road.(Bus garage and fire dept on this road too.) I skateboarded when I was younger, all the kids did it back then.

I would just continue keeping an eye on the kids and tell them to ignore the rude drivers.(Unfortunately you can't get away form them.)

 

[Nancy]

Seems to be a problem in many communitites. Our community built a skatepark for the kids to get them off the street and out of the local business's parking lots. Unfortunately it also brought in some undesireables and we soon had problems with drugs being sold up there and a lot of behavior and language that many parents were concerned about.. My difficult child started going up there and not coming home and was involved with a lot of kids we were not happy about. The police were spending a lot of time handling problems. Finally after many physical fights, drugs, drinking and some arrests the parents got together and began policing the skatepark. They would sit up there while their kids skateboarded and watch for illegal activity. They wanted to clean it up for the kids who wanted to use it legally. I attended several city council safety meetings and vowed to try to get it closed down unless some policing of activities went on. They drew up rules, posted them, installed lights aroound the park and enforced the hours.

Perhaps your community can build a skatepark for the kids also. It can work if parents want to help police it and make it a safe place for everyone.

Nancy

 

[pinevalley]

My son is also 14, and he loves to skateboard with his friends. He does skateboard in front of our house, but it can be risky because of all the cars passing by. It takes a lot of skill to be able to skateboard and do tricks on the board, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with skateboarding. Is there a skatepark close to your house where your son can go to skate? That is the best place, because the kids don't have to worry about cars at all. If there is no a skatepark close to your house, maybe you can encourage your son to try some skate tricks on your driveway. My son likes to line a number of bricks in a row on our driveway, and then he tries to ollie as many of the bricks as he can. It would also be very helpful to encourage your son to wear pads whenever he skates. Most kids don't want to wear any protective pads, but it really helps when they fall. Good luck!

 

[Kjs]

My son does not skateboard. He has instead been bullied by the "skaters". I see it when walking through a parking lot. I myself have been disrespected and put down for driving in a parking lot that may interfere with the skaters.

I do understand these kids give other skateboarders a bad reputation. I believe, not intentionally, but due to the fact that many do not have a place TO skate. Therefore they are often unsupervised and in a group when they do find a place. Anytime you put a group of teenagers together they will do and say things out of the ordinary.

Even the skate parks that have gone up in the past few years do not offer any supervision. Parents drop kids off, or they walk, and are again placed in a group of unsupervised teens. They gain strength in their group and peer pressure I am sure.

We live on a one block street. There IS a few neighbor kids that skate on the corner. Happens to be my corner. There is a street light, and it is a nice neighborhood. They put soap or wax on the curb and do their thing often until midnight in summer.
These kids are respectful. They have no problems with any kids or neighbors. The noise bothers me only because I work odd hours and my sleep is often at strange times. I would never let them know I am bothered because these kids found a place near home, parents check on them, they are respectful and enjoying a safe sport.

Even the kids who skate in parking lots, who are disrespectful are not to blame totally for their behavior. They are in a situation. They are young. They are trying to fit in. And they are judged, and biggest problem is unsupervised. How do you resolve that?
Would one of those kids be willing to have a parent present? I highly doubt it. Construct parks for the kids to go? As proven in my town, when left unsupervised you often get the same outcome. Skating in front of our home, their home/neighborhood. Works out good.
I am glad my son does not skate...we've already had too many broken bones. That would be my biggest worry!

Good luck to you. It is tough.

 

[Star*]

No sk8er boy here -

But he's like an angel on roller blades - just floats.

When we did have that age children with bikes and skates - we set up a neighborhood watch. We set signs up that said CAUTION CHILDREN PLAYING. You can petition the county or city to put them up and petition the neighborhood to lower the speed AND in some cases speed bumps at the beginning and end. (many places won't put speed bumps in as they say it can CAUSE a car to veer in to a yard) BUT NOTHING says SLOW THE FRIG down like 2 dads or 2 moms watching over the kids in the road.

Another thought is to call your local police dept and tell them or write them that there has been an influx of speeders and ask them to put a YOUR MILEAGE IS sign at the beginning and end of that road and tell them LOTS of people are speeding - $$$ tickets. ALSO - ALL the kids should be able to take a class at the local PD on bike and road sharing safety.

If you don't have a neighborhood watch now would be a good time to institute some of these things mentioned above. Find out how many signatures you have to get from neighbors to get SLOW DOWN signs - CHILDREN at play.....
Just make sure that it isn't like the new neighborhood we moved into -

The kids seemed to think walking shoulder to shoulder down the road and not moving for a car was "cool" (idiotic I know) so we hooked an old fire truck horn to DF's 4wd truck - and coasted up behind them -got the over the shoulder glance and no movement - He flipped the switch and hit the fire truck horn and they jumped out of their skin and I mean it was LOUD. He pulled up next to some of them and said - "Hey guys - thanks for moving out of the way." Amidst the laughing - the next time we came down the road - we were on the Harley and they parted company and waved.

Most of them are on their own now - but since then? No problems getting the "I'm a teen, I'm in a bad mood, I'm not moving for anyone you'll see" attitudes.

 

[daralex]

I agree with everyone lese - nothing wrong with it. Here's strange idea - a few years ago a child was run over in a slow traffic neighborhood. After that the parents on the block got together and made life size cut outs of kids made of plywood. They put them on the sidewalks and each "child" was holding a sign saying go slow - kids at play or stating the speed limit of the street. It still slows down traffic to this day. Kids should be able to "play" in their own neighborhood but still with the undertanding that roads were really meant for cars. Good luck!
-Dara