Shooting myself in the "Skuut"

The “Skuut” thing really works.

Now I know it’s not going to get my daughter a college scholarship or free tuition for kindergarten. But I have to tell you, I'm pretty fascinated at what the Skutt did for her bike riding skills. After about six months of pedal-less bike riding on the Skuut, she was able to actually ride a two-wheeler without training wheels yesterday. And I think that’s pretty good for a three year old kid. She certainly kicks my ass, I learned to ride a two-wheeler at nine or ten. Just a big over-sized goofball with training wheels on a full-size bike, riding down the sidewalks of East 4th back in the 60’s.

At least no one ever took pictures, that’s blackmail material for sure.

Yeah, so there she is, just one push and she’s off. No falling down, no wobbling, no full body amour. No, just a nice smooth ride without her training wheels, and “I want to go faster” from her little mouth. And of course the only way she knows how to stop the bike is by dragging her feet like she does on the Skuut.

No, she has no clue so far about the brakes.

And there I am running after her as she tries to pedal faster, “pedal backwards for brakes”, “pedal backwards for brakes”.
And still she uses the tips or her shoes to stop the bike, scraping the leather right off.

Oh well, more white shoe polish to buy at Walgreens.

So there you go, the non-believer that I was, now praising the virtues of the “Skuut”. The funny wooden bike-like thing that I only saw in Park Slope and thought was just another “must-have” for those people that live on slanted streets.

Yes, I was totally wrong about the “Skuut”, it will help your kid learn how to ride a two-wheeler faster. Yes, I was wrong.

Now, if only there were some kindergarten bike riding scholarships, I’d be in luck.

Ron Lopez


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