Monday 29 October 2012

How do I know which kids scooter is right for my kids

By Timothy Chisholm


You can find a huge variety of scooters out there to take into consideration. These can vary from safe 3 wheelers onto the more robust stunt scooters and they all have their pros and cons. You need to think about safety, how strong the scooter is, does it have three wheels? Does it have two? If that doesn't sound important well think about when you're rattling a long to school. The silent wheels can be a godsend. So here's a short guide for getting your young kids a scooter online.

Toddlers to pre-school

Well the more wheels the easier it is for your kid to play on their scooter and with easy steer three wheel, tilt and turn variety you can be assured your child will get the hang of it quickly. Most consist of soft foam handgrips and anti-slip footplates. It's also worth checking that it has a rear footbrake, as this will prepare kids for the balance scooters. Additionally there is the three or tri wheel scooters that are more like the older balance scooters. Although kids can use these perfectly well with practice they aren't quite as quick to learn and not as stable as the tilt and turn ones. Safety is of course important and at a minimum a simple colourful helmet will be cool as well as practical.

4-9 Year old kids

From the age of about four kids can get started to use the more normal balance style of scooter. They'll be able to go faster, hold their own balance and use the brake. It's also where you must consider safety because depending on the personality of the child they can now be going quite fast. Again the helmet is a minimum. Things to watch for are a good 50kg weight allowance, sturdy aluminium construction, a sliding stem so the scooter can grow with the child and suitable grip surfaces for feet and hands. If you're considering taking your kids to the local skateboarding park then also think about just how much clearance there is under the scooter because going up curved ridges means that low riding scooters can catch.

9 Year olds onwards

At this time you're really beginning to look for a strong model with more stunt features. Kids love to fool around doing flips, bar spins and 180 tail whips so the scooter is going to take some punishment. You should be looking for one piece handle bars, 100mm aluminium core wheels with ABEC bearings and full length grips. If it's getting rough then it's really is worth getting knee and elbow pads, sometimes tricky to convince kids to use them but with pros sporting such kit kids are now beginning to be easier to convince.

Safety Clothing

There's no rocket science with this. As kids develop, they get taller and will start to bounce less. They'll also take more risks, get pier pressure and just make mistakes. Getting kids into safety gear from a young age helps get their mind set straight but they need to see their parents wearing it to. So if you're out and about a helmet is the minimum you need to be considering. Once they start doing spins and jumps they ought to be getting some padding on and at least wearing long sleeves in order to help with bruising and grazes.

Buying advice from online stores

Look for clear online purchase policies so if once you receive the scooter from your online store they won't have any quibbles about taking it back should your little one not like it. Most online stores will do this and in the UK there are "distance selling" regulations that mean you can return the merchandise in 7 days no questions asked.




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