My son loves skateboarding. He is almost 21 months old, and all he wants for Christmas is "skateboards." I must clarify that he wants those tiny skateboards that you skate with your fingers, alnog with the 2ft. long ramp. (I have gotten some horrified looks when this tiny little person tells someone he wants a skateboard for Christmas.) When ever he sees a kid skateboarding, he just watches intently. Once, when a kid flipped off his skateboard at a park, my son got on it before his father could stop him. I bought him a cool book, called "Scarred for Life," that documents skateboarding, and its history. He just pours over it, he passes up the pages covered in words, but he stops at the photos, turning the pictures in all direction, attempting to make sense of the images of an upside down skateboard.
I don't know how many of you are familar with the television show "Yo Gabba Gabba," so I will give a little background on the show...It is a Nickelodeon Jr. show hosted by orange clad Dj Lance Rock who brings life to the 5 costumed characters. The show has special guests, including a regular appearance by Biz Markie in his segment called "Biz's Beat of the Day," where he teaches the kids a beatbox series of sounds. Jack Black invaded the show for a segment, as he got lost in Gabba land when his minibike ran out of gas. There is a "Dancy Dance" segment that often features a guest teaching a dance to the characters, featuring stars like Elijah Wood, Sarah Silverman, Andy Samburg, Sean Kingston, and Sugarland. Other guests include Anthony Bourdain, Mos Def, Solange Knowles, Jack McBrayer, The Roots, and Questlove and Rahzel in other episodes, Shiny Toy Guns...and also Tony Hawk. My son's face lit up when he saw the skateboard on his favorite show! It is interesting to see Tony Hawk doing kids things now...I think back to how great I thought Tony Hawk was when I was in Junior High. I had a crush on this one kid, just because he looked like Tony Hawk. (I always liked the bad boy...) Now, Tony Hawk is still the most well known name in skateboarding, but he is also just a little bit older than me...and we are both middle aged now...
My son is enthralled with anything skateboarding. I am excited to see if this my be a passion developing. I have never pushed the idea of skateboarding onto him, and I do not know anyone who even rides a skateboard anymore...my son has just fallen in love with skateboarding anyway, already...
They still make those finger stakeboards??? Those were a big deal when Keven was a kid, I wonder if they are the same kind?
ReplyDeleteDo you have a skate park near you? I bet he'd love to watch (I sure do).
The X Games are held here every year and my fave thing to watch is the skateboarders, they amaze me. I used to love playing Tony Hawk video games with Kev.
Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories for me!
I think your son just had a natural affinity towards the sport! Who knows how that works. Watch out, he'll be wanting a real one soon enough!
I the world of children's programming, Yo Gabba Gabba is one of the most kinetic, insane shows. Real hard for me to watch for any period of time but I did happen to catch the one with Tony Hawk too. He has always been one of my Idols so I worked through the pain to watch this episode.
ReplyDeleteThe little minature skateboards are called Tech Decks and his interest will not stop there. my youngest of 4 sons was on a real skateboard at about 2. He would kneel on it and got pretty good at propelling himself on the driveway and even at the local skatepark here in Germany. Helmets and pads were mandatory for him but with his low center of gravity and light weight he never got too banged up. And he loved it!!
I started at 10 and still ride occasionally even these days at 47. Great lifelong sport/activity/attitude. i wish your son many, many skateboarding thoughts, wishes and dreams. Merry Christmas!!