It’s good when you introduce your kid to a scooter in time.
Starting to use a scooter at the early age helps them to build self confidence. And it increases the physical ability of kids.
Because scooter is a part of physical exercise that contributes to the development of their muscular body system.
Since exercise is important to kids, most parents want to know if their 2 year old can use a scooter.
Can a 2 Year Old Use a Scooter? A 2 year old with healthy physical appearance and walks with a good gait can ride a scooter designed for them under supervision or training.
However, it’s quite challenging when you start teaching your child how to ride a scooter.
Sometimes, you want to give up because they’re still developing their motor skill yet and poor physical ability to handle a scooter.
You don’t have to give up because in this article, you’ll discover a standard age checklist that’ll guide you to easily introduce your 2 year old into the scooter sport.
Get A Sizeable Scooter
The easiest way to get your child to start riding a scooter is by getting them the exact size of scooter. A 2 year old will not be able to use any scooter that is either bigger or smaller than their size.
It’s safer for kids to skate a scooter that is built for their size. If the scooter is smaller than their size, they’ll not be able to ride it comfortably.
Because, not all 2 years old children have the same body structures. Some are taller than the others, while some are bigger statues.
When you get a smaller scooter for a taller child, the scooter height will affect the child.
Heigh is one of the factors you need to consider when buying a scooter for your 2 year old baby.
The weight of the child is not necessarily important. Almost every scooter of the age group built to carry similar weight.
But when it comes to height, you need to check if the scooter is smaller or taller than your child before you buy it.
Child will lose control over a scooter that’s smaller than. Likewise it is difficult to ride a scooter that’s bigger than.
Children can effectively get used to a scooter in time when you get exactly their size.
The child ability can only come in after you get the exact size scooter. Hence, ability will be of no use.
You might be asking “how to know the exact size scooter for your child?” It is very simple to know the exact scooter size for your kids.
The exact scooter size for a child is when the scooter handle bar is lower than the child’s neck. Once the neck is the same height as the scooter handle bar, then the child will not be able to ride comfortably.
The chance of the handlebar to injure the child’s face when collision occurs is very high. You can simply avoid this risk of injury by buying the exact scooter size.
When buying a scooter, get the one that has a height-adjustable handle bar. You can easily adjust the height below the child neck to ride successfully.
When the scooter handle bar is taller than the child’s face, chances are the child might not be able to ride it.
Children can only ride scooters that are designed to be exactly their size.
How to Introduce Your 2 Year Old Into Scooter
The concern of many parents is how to make their kids ride a scooter for the first day. It’s challenging to parents because the kids are still developing their motor skill.
There are simple ways you can use to teach your 2 year old how to ride a scooter. Not the ways are easy but will make your child get used to scooter in time.
The first way is to ensure the scooter gets the kids attention. Not just to get their attention only but also develop love for the scooter.
Generally, kids like to play with whatever object that appeals to their eyes. Once they dislike an object it will affect their learning process.
Therefore, you need to introduce the scooter to them. Make the child get familiar with the scooter first before the learning process.
Provide them with basic information and explain the different parts of the scooter to them. Let them play with the scooter for some like 5 to 10 minutes first before they get on.
This process will make them understand the basic components. Once they know what scooter it’s all about, then it will become easy for you to teach them.
Next is to show them how to ride a scooter. You need to do this over and over again, for like 3 to 5 times.
Remember, you may have to explain what scooter it’s all about to them enough for them to understand.
Generally, kids learn faster with visual teaching. You need to demonstrate how to ride a scooter to your kids before you allow them to get on.
Get on the scooter with one foot to properly demonstrate it and as well show them how to turn and how to stop. Show them how to push with one foot, while the other foot on top of the scooter.
Ensure the teaching is done indoor and the place is smooth. Preferable, do it on a capart. The carpet or smooth place will make them not to sustain injury when they fall.
The initial time, they will not have the initial balance to stand on and ride. Regular practice will make them gain the exact skill required to ride.
Now you can allow the kid to get on the scooter and begin to ride. Tell them the need of starting to ride slowly at the initial time.
The instruction should be one foot on top of the scooter, two hands on the handle bar, while the other one foot is used to push forward. You can as well push them a bit forward once the kid places one leg on the scooter.
Should I get a 2-wheeled or 3-wheeled kick scooter For 2 Year Old?
The type of wheeled scooter you get for your kid depends on their body appearance and their ability to walk with steady stride.
The physical body and the motor skills of your child are factors you need to consider when you want to introduce your kid into a scooter sport.
We shall study in detail the various scooter’s wheels that’ll help you make better decisions. Some kids use 2-wheeled, while some use a 3-wheeled scooter when starting out.
A 2 Front wheel, One rear wheel, with lean-to-turn type steering
This type of scooter is a nice way to get your kids started out. The 2 front wheels balance the scooter on the front.
Scooter rider’s weight is usually exerted to the front, so the 2 wheels help to balance the weight when riding.
It was designed by the manufacturers to help toddler do the major work of balancing. The 3 wheels scooter makes the rider comfortable to ride without falling into one side.
The 3 wheels kick scooter has controllable speed that is easy for a 2 year old to control. It has maximum weight on the ground floor that prevents the 2 year old from falling out.
It is built with 65kg of running load that has the capacity to carry your kid. The back wheel helps to make it stable on the ground.
The 2 front wheel scooter has less friction that makes it run with sliding one side especially when the inexperienced rider is using it.
The 2 front wheels make it easy for a toddler to easily turn the scooter. Teach your kids to always lean in the direction of the turn in order to steer the scooter.
One Front Wheel, 2 rear wheels, with bicycle type steering
This is an effective kick scooter for kids who develop fast body structure and motor skill.
The wider wheel base on the rear balance the back side of the scooter but the front wheel lacks maximum balance to hold kids that are starting out scooter.
The front wheel that carries the rider’s weight has only one wheel. That’s why it is not advisable for a 2 year old to start out with it.
Also, the rear wheels in some versions stick out sideways from the deck and can be struck by the child’s heel when pushing.
However, it is easy to ride kids with kids who have scooter skill. It helps them to build moral strength and self confidence in life.
This design does little to develop balance, but they are easier to ride by kids who find it difficult to lean-to steer a scooter that has two front wheels. Choose this type if your child struggles with the lean-to-steer type.
This is a special type of scooter that moves forward when you propel not by pushing with the feet, but with a hip twisting motion which carves the scooter along.
This is designed for a specific way of riding and it has the capacity to carry 50kg.
However, some of the 2 rear wheel scooters are built with aluminum. the ones built with aluminum have the capacity to carry 100kg weight. Steering becomes easy with one front wheel scooter.
The kid has to have high motor skill to propel the scooter forward while maintaining minimum speed.
You need to teach them how to continuously stir the handlebar to gain maximum control and self balancing when riding.
This type of scooter requires more balance wheel skill to ride on. That’s why you need to demonstrate to the kids severally how to gain balance when riding such a scooter.
Conclusion
Now, you are aware that a 2 year old can ride a scooter, you might consider getting it as a gift.
I trust this article has provided you with useful information on how to make your 2 year old use a scooter.
The ball is on your court to go ahead and teach them how to ride a scooter.
Because, introducing your kids to a scooter early enough will increase their motor skill. It will help develop self confidence in handling life challenges.
