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mjpisat

Skates for little kids

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My boy is turning 4 in November. Would like to take him to a few public skates, if all goes well sign him up for learn to skate classes. Need skates and helmet. At this point does it matter for skates if I buy a $50 pair or $200? He's a small kid and his feet are normal so not sure if I have to worry about high vs low volume etc. any suggestions would be cool

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Doubtful he'll be skating hard enough to want really nice skates.

Most of the time, expensive = stiffer = less comfortable for a beginner.

Let him learn to balance on the center of the blade instead of relying on the boot stiffness.

He's going to outgrow them anyway!!

Take the money you saved and get him gloves and a cheap stick so he can be a hockey player like dad. :)

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I have had both my kids in Bauer Supreme .6. They only ran me about $50. I did not go with something that was adjustable or the lil' champ/angel skates. I wanted them in a "real" hockey skate. Remember that you feet and your head are 2 very important things. I have alway said to spend a little more on those 2 pieces of equipment. If your feet hurt you you're not going to want to skate long and its all you will think about.

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I got my son skates when he was 3. I got the least expensive skates for his size then had them profiled to a 28ft radius. Starting out on his first pair of skates, I would go for the $50 ones and then get them profiled. The large profile radius with help him be more stable starting out when he is basically learning to stand up on the ice and to get up when he falls.

As for the helmet, get the one that fits his head the best despite the cost. It needs to protect the most important part of him.

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I got my daughter Bauer Vapor x40's when she was 4. They run about $60. She has just about outgrown them so we picked up the next size of that same skate a couple weeks ago.

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Do you have a play it again sports in your area? I grabbed some Vapor X 6.0's for my 6 year old daughter for $34 that looks like they were worn once. I will be going back there next year for my son when he turns 4 to get him skates.

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I have always gotten my son top of the line or very nearly top of the line skates since he was very young. He has joint hyperlaxity which means he has overly flexible joints. This made him pronate a lot, especially when he was younger. The reason I was getting him top of the line skates was because I was reasoning that I would spend no expense to help compensate for the flexibility in his ankles by getting the stiffest skates I could find. I also used to tie his skates pretty tight for the same reason. When he got old enough to tie his own skates I noticed he was tying them a lot looser than I was and I noticed he was skating better. He made the comment that his skates used to feel like blocks on his feet when I would tie them and when he did they didn't. So running with that notion, I recently got him the 55 flex product to give him even more flex. He loved it and said that it made his skates feel even less like blocks. When Easton put in place the 30 day trial thing on Makos/M8s I got him a pair of M8s (my experience with my Makos was that their lessened stiffness relative to my U+CLs was liberating). He loves them and says once again that they feel less like blocks on his feet.

Anyway that was a long way to get there but the point is that I think that I really did him a disservice by putting him in expensive/way-too-stiff skates. And his ankles are more flexible than most. So I would think it would be even more so for kids with normal ankles. I realize that M8s are by no means inexpensive skates and I'm not suggesting you get those, but I think in general, top of the line skates are much too stiff for most adults let alone most kids.

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For a helmet, I bought a Bauer 2100 Junior for my grandson, who is also on the small side. I believe the junior is designed for kids, with a better fit than a regular small helmet. It fits him great and has plenty of adjustment. They seem to be very popular so most shops carry them. It should be pretty easy to find, so he could try it on for fit.

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