precocious kids

I almost always skate with my 7 year old son Milan (long i). We started skating at the same time and place, only separated by 39 years:)

My wife started us on this journey by suggesting that we all get skateboards back in 2005. We picked up a full size board and a mini for Milan, then 4 years old - we also had a hand-me-down from a friend. My son and I hadn't skated before, but my wife had done some basic sidewalk cruising around. We all skated around the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque maybe a half-dozen times, cruising down the mellow hills, having a blast, till my son lost interest, and that was that. Until last spring.

In 2005 we were contemplating a move to Houston, and (before my son lost interest) I checked out skateparks in Houston. I recall showing my wife Houston's Southside Skatepark website. We ended up in Houston in July of 2005.

Summer 2005 rolls into summer 2006 into winter 2006-07. Milan, now 6 years old, decides he wants to skateboard again. We start rolling around in the driveway, and then finally take him to Southside Skatepark in the early spring. This was our first visit to any skatepark with the intention of skating. I had taken Milan a couple of times to a skatepark in Albuquerque to watch the locals. But this was different, this was stuff we, I mean he could skate. There were big ramps and halfpipes and a bowl I wasn't really sure how you were supposed to get out of. Just seeing the pure joy in his face at the prospect of being a participant in all of this, of being a skater, we of course signed him up for lessons and got him a new board.

Not sure if anyone except my wife saw the pure joy in my face at the prospect of being a participant in all of this...

That was the day my son surpassed me as a skater. And that's kind of cool.

What gives me the most hope for myself as a skater is watching old videos of Milan. Wow, I'm as good as my son was 6 months ago! That means in a year I'll be as good as he is now! That'll be awesome:)