A family that scoots together, learns together!

When I became a Mum I made Leo a promise, I promised to be active and join in with his games. I promised to be fun! I promised to be the kind of Mum who would hop on the most daring of rollercoasters with him and go for day’s out at our favourite theme parks. I promised above all else to be playful and energetic in all that we did and were going to do.

I was 21 when I became pregnant, so I have always had age on my side. There have been a few occasions where I have faced stigma for being a ‘young mum’, but the reality is I have the get up and go, I can run, jump, hop and skip! I can climb trees, hula hoop and take on soft play! As a twenty something Mum I can really take part in absolutely everything that Leo does, and not being the tallest person in the world.. height restrictions don’t really apply to me!

I love to get outside with Leo and take part in his games. There have been times I have stood on the side line as I have watched him scooting around at warp speed, and I have wished that I could join in with him. I never have been one to just sit on the edge and watch everyone else having all the fun, I like to be involved.

Now the whole family has a set of wheels, that’s Mummy, Daddy and Leo who now has a few, so It was lovely when he decided to give one to his younger cousin so that he could join in with all of the fun too.

These days when Leo scoots, one or all of us scoot too. Just the other day I became the leader of a scooter gang, and that is definitely something that I didn’t expect at the age of 24! Within the new scooter gang we have a great age range…Of course I am the eldest! There is my other half Luke at 24, 12 year old sister Alice, 2 year old Leo and my 18 month old nephew Josh, who is already able to scoot and happens to do the most fantastic leg pop!

Lots of giggling ensues when the scooting begins. Giggles at those having their first go on the Y-Volution Carver as they begin to wiggle their bodies to propel themselves forward. Leo’s Daddy seems to have claimed the Carver for his own, but granted he is the one who has discovered how to pull some of the better moves on there.

I have been using my Micro Scooter to keep up with everyone else, you can probably in vision us all scooting around being prompted by Leo to ‘Go Mummy! Go!’ and me trying to remember quickly how to scoot again! It’s amazing watching Leo’s face as I follow his commands, it really is rewarding seeing that big smile of his glaze his entire face over into that blissfully happy contented look of his.

Suddenly a simple family scooting activity is a race, and Leo has informed me that he is going to WIN!  Trying to keep up with my fast paced toddler is always an interesting prospect, and if I am trying to catch him while he is scooting around these days… and I am on foot, it really is a sight. He weaves circles and those circles are usually around me… Thankfully now I scoot too, I do have a fighting chance of keeping up.

Family scooting is not something I had considered when Leo got his first scooter, but the idea soon formed in my mind. It is an activity that gets us all outside, gets us all active and something that we can all do together. I can remember spending hours on my parent’s drive as a child, just scooting up and down, round and round or racing my younger brother. I love being able to leave my age on a hook and spend quality time with Leo in an environment where age just doesn't matter.

I think sometimes we as parent’s need to cast our age aside. Forget that we had to do that growing up thing… It’s not relevant anymore! As soon as you have kids we open ourselves up to the days that have gone by. I think one of the most important things that we can do is find our inner child again, and watch our children’s faces light up when we do.

Scooting together has opened up a whole new door for us, it gets us outside and playing, it gets us smiling, talking and learning all at the same time. Right now we are just scooting around the confinement of the family home, where we don’t have to worry too much about cars, but sooner or later we will venture further a field and our scooter fun will continue!