His Lesson

If you have a tween boy, you know what a Ripstik is. In fact, you probably have one. But for those of you who are scratching your heads, picture a curvy skateboard, split in the center. The front and back boards are mounted on a bar and supported by inline skate-style wheels, enabling them to pivot independently. It's very wobbly and there are no handlebars.

Doesn't sound easy? You're right, it's not. I've tried it. After 30 minutes of practice and approximately 100 attempts, I could finally go about 20 feet without falling off. And it wasn't a pretty sight - arms flailing, I looked like I was going to lose my balance and crack my head at any moment. But the kids make it look soooo easy. My son has had his for nearly 3 years now, and he can go long distances, while multi-tasking(!), without falling off.

Until this week. While rushing home to meet a curfew, he found himself off-balance, causing the Ripstik to shoot out from under him. Instinctively, he put his hands out to break his fall. Instead, he broke his wrist.

Fortunately, it is a pretty "good" break - a simple fracture of his radius that will heal fine.

Some people have asked if I'm going to allow my son to ride his Ripstik again. It's not safe, they say, and his fall proves it.

But how do kids gain experience and test their limits if they're overly protected? I think it's so healthy - indeed, necessary - to make mistakes, in order to learn from them. My son told me that the reason he was careless was because he'd stayed too long at his friend's house, causing him to rush home to meet the curfew. He concluded, on his own, that staying those few extra minutes wasn't worth the short-term pain and long-term inconvenience it caused (he broke his dominant wrist, and the cast he'll wear for the next several weeks extends out to his fingers - so yes, it's mighty inconvenient for him).


Since he's just a few years away from driving, I extended our conversation to include visualizing him as a teenager in danger of missing curfew, but instead of riding a Ripstik, he's driving a car. This week's experience enabled him to see how a similar mistake, but involving a car, could result in a far more serious outcome.

He'll always remember this accident.

It's a reminder that he's not invincible.

And we all need reminding of that once in a while.