Life Skill #2: Roller blading is fun!

With the cycling skill already in her box, Pozu had now set her eyes on roller blades. There are quite a few kids in our apartment complex who come out with their kits to practice and it's fascinating to see them roll past in style. Wonder how we grew up without all of this and never really missed it!

Now I had no prior experience of skating or roller blading, so I had very little to offer in terms of advise. All I could do was read up a few techniques on the internet and ask her to implement those. So to begin with, I chose to let her try on her own and not really influence her process of self-learning. To my surprise, it took her less than a couple of minutes to get on her feet and stand without any support.

She was now ready for her first attempt to roll, and I was left amazed by the way she did it! There was no sense of fear in her, it was infact a cake walk. Soon she was striding around on those wheels trying out various techniques that could help her propel faster. This is where I could use some of my academic knowledge about skating techniques and help her learn how to position her body and let it flow in a rhythm.

It wasn't more than a couple of practice sessions that she could navigate herself and also stop when required (although the stopping part is still a bit random even now!). In the process of learning, she fell quite a few times, actually a lot more than when she learnt to cycle. Some of the falls seemed harmless and some were a bit scary, luckily she never got hurt because of all the protective gear she wears. But she's never had an element of doubt on whether she wanted to continue or not, she just shrugged it off and moved on. That's what makes her so amazing!

Life Skill #1 - Learning to Ride

Sometime in late 2013, I had removed the trainer wheels on Pozu's bicycle and planned to teach her the fine art of balancing a bike. But that plan never really materialized and I never got the chance to put the trainer wheels back as well. So in January 2014, the effort to teach cycling was revived again.

I was thinking it will be a time consuming affair and I will be mostly running behind her holding the bike at the back like how they show in the movies. And then at one point in time the dad lets go and sees the kid pedal off to glory, with tears in his eyes. But it wasn't meant to be like that, we just went down with her cycle, I asked her to sit and told her to look straight ahead and start pedaling. All it took was one push and she went off cruising on two wheels effortlessly.



A couple of more practice sessions and she had already learnt how to maneuver around and do a complete circuit without touching her feet on the ground. Never knew it could be so easy!


I had gotten her the set of elbow and knee guards along with her helmet to ensure that there was minimal risk of injury even when she fell hard. But the best part was that, in her own mind, she had made peace with the fact that falling wasn't a bad thing at all. I think this was the single most important factor for her to learn so quickly - she had virtually no fear of falling and every time she did, she just shrugged it off and kept moving ahead.



Though she had learnt to ride nicely, the size of the bike was becoming an issue. She had clearly outgrown the green bike and it was time to give it away. So, in May 2014, Pozu got an upgrade to a spanking new Firefox 14” bike which she lovingly calls YellowFox.