Sunday, April 22, 2007

Rollerblades

Today was one of my most fun days as a parent. I took the children to the Sportmart, bought Rollerblades for them, Rollerblades for myself, went to the Mississauga Lakeshore (Jack Darling Park), and we all went rollerblading. My son was a total whiz (and unfortunately, a bit of a daredevil). I guess in hindsight I shouldn't so surprised at his confidence on Rollerblades, since he does play ice hockey, and since in line skating/rollerblading isn't that big a stretch from ice skating. Usually people who can ice skate can do alright on Rollerblades.

My daughter was cautious and a bit afraid of getting hurt at first, but with some (literal) hand holding as well as lots of encouragement, she got some confidence together and did just fine. I'm a bit rusty after 10 years of not being on Rollerblades, but I did well enough to keep up with the kids, and to teach them how to roller blade. Lots of fun.

My hope is that I can use this as an activity to keep me active with the children. Before I had the children, I was able to keep fit by going to the gym (6 days a week), and keeping active (tennis 3x a week). I can't even hope to do that (it was, after all, about 8 years ago, and pre-children), but if I can do the gym 3x week, and roller blade with the kids 1-2 times a week, that will be enough for me to know that I did the best I could. And it encourages them to keep active. And we all have fun. Sounds like a deal to me.

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