Brisbane's Kids
Boys At Brisbane Skate Bowls Aren’t So Scary.
Skate Bowl
I know the title of this post is a bit strange but I have a confession to make. I just realized today that I’ve been carrying a prejudice against boys that hang out at Brisbane skate bowls. These kids to me seemed to be well.. for a better word riff raff or untrustworthy. Now I’m not sure exactly where I formed this opinion.
I’m sure though that it has something to do with the way the media portrays these types of kids. You know the ones; they are dressed as if they slept in their clothes which always seem to have stretched in the wash. Their pants or boxers are always seen sitting above their shorts and they are rarely without a cap on their heads which must be worn at any angle other than having the brim over their noses.
I don’t know about you but I’ve seen plenty of footage on the TV of these sorts of kids hanging out in gangs together, often skating in inappropriate public places. Anyway to my little wakeup call…
My 2 boys and I spent an hour at a little park yesterday that we’d not bothered with before. It’s really a small park, a couple of slides and that’s about it except that there was a skate bowl. So when I asked the kids what they wanted to do today Mr M (all of 4) said he wanted to take his bike and scooter to the skate bowl. Ummm, Ok I said BUT and I began to list off everything that this involved.
“There will be big kids there and you must try to stay out of their way, you must wear your helmet, no I’m not taking the training wheels off your bike today, yes your brother is coming.”Etc Ok I was a rather nervous mum who could easily see this experience turning into a major disaster. I ended the discussion (rant) with “if you start behaving in a way that makes me frightened you’re going to hurt yourself then we are leaving!!”
Well, the boys had a fantastic time. They loved mixing with the “big” kids and these “big” kids were fantastic! They were very aware of my 2 little guys and did their best to make sure they didn’t get hurt. When Mr M did come of his bike and scooter or even started to look like he was having trouble, some other kid was there immediately to help pick him or his bike up. I was just amazed at how helpful and caring they all were. Boys in this age group aren’t known for being caring like this and I have to say my head is still processing what I saw today.
So I have learned a lesson about not judging a book by its cover, and been given hope that my 2 angels won’t turn into total strange aliens when they start double figures and turn into teenagers. The boys are fast asleep now but I know when they wake up tomorrow we will be going back to the skate bowl for some more fun and I’ll still be praying nothing gets broken. But I won’t be concerned about the other kids that might be there.
Humbly Yours
Glenys
Tags: Discussion
2 comments for “Boys At Brisbane Skate Bowls Aren’t So Scary.”
Post a comment
I too have had the wonderful experience of watching little boys (toddlers of 1+ up to 4yr olds) playing very happily in skate bowls. The ones I’ve seen ride their little plastic fat wheel trikes and mini cars down the bowl and over the ramps with great courage and dare I say skill. Even my little man (1+) has fun just running over the middle ramps. It has been a great way for these littlies to pass the time while waiting for big brothers and sisters to finish their cricket training at the local sport club. I agree that the bigger kids at the skate bowl are aware of the little ones, however I find it too scary if too many people are in the bowl at once. Still, I was amazed at how the skate bowl could prove to be such a fun place for such young children in our community and that you didn’t need to have a skate board, scooter or bmx bike to have fun there.
As an aside: while I don’t normally agree with kids who choose to ignore the ‘no skateboards, scooters etc’ sign in shopping centres, the group in the undercover car park at my local shops today who were having a great time to thumpingly loud music: good for you! You were looking out for shoppers and cars. It was raining outside and you deserved to have somewhere dry to have fun. But don’t try it in dry weather, ok!
Good point about the undercover carpark. I went again to the skate park recently and had an interesting conversation with a grounds cleaner. I’ll write up a post about that too I think.