Teaching small kids

[mayhem]

I think that is great you are all teaching your kids to kite. We have a ski boat, so we have been taking our daughter innertubing and wakeboarding since she was around 4 years old. What we found worked really well was last season when she was 6, we took her kiting while she was standing on our board in between our legs. We picked a time when it was nice and hot, the wind was nice and consistent and the water was like butter... (We also had a chase boat).

Here are some pics.

liana_inntertubing.JPG (25.58 KiB) Viewed 1185 times

May

liana_wake.JPG (245.64 KiB) Viewed 1186 times

[Nico]

Carefull.
Kids are not small grown ups.
Teaching kids has nothing in common with teaching adults.
The learning curve is different.
The atention span is different.
the psychology is different.
Safety factor is different.

Now teaching your own kids is different again.
It is hard for you to differentiate between what you want to what the kid wants.
My advice is to stay very atentive and to follow their hints
Ex. I want to stop now (DO IT)
Pushing them will develop barriers towards the activity.

Nico

[JMDPK]

Given the inherent risks involved - unless and until they show an interest in giving the sport a go themselves - do not even consider it.

Interesting though - in someways kids in theory look like they could be such good kite boarders - ie if you look at children doing monkey bars they are incredible - climbing up inclines backwards - or if you look at them on handles- they are able to do 360 rotations going forwards and backwards - and the ability to suspend themselves from bars with one hand appears unlimited (at least with the case of my 7rd old son)

but... they hate going in water that they cant easily stand up in....

[jakemoore]

Thanks guys. How about small kites that are least likely to fail and fly well in lighter winds?

[Nico]

+_ 5 or 7mt bow is my opinion .
Depends if your kiting area is strong wind average or not.
Nico

[alpower]

+_ 5 or 7mt bow is my opinion .
Depends if your kiting area is strong wind average or not.
Nico

Agreed but put it on short lines, 14m to 18m, so it doesn't generate as much power when going through the power zone. I used a 5m SB1

[kiter147]

have him learn by body dragging unhooked so he learns the power of the kite. then get him on a skimboard or how i know another kid started is on a surfboard (2ft bigger than him) and when he learns with all the balance get him doing the real stuff.

[FredBGG]

I think that is great you are all teaching your kids to kite. We have a ski boat, so we have been taking our daughter innertubing and wakeboarding since she was around 4 years old. What we found worked really well was last season when she was 6, we took her kiting while she was standing on our board in between our legs. We picked a time when it was nice and hot, the wind was nice and consistent and the water was like butter... (We also had a chase boat).

Here are some pics.

liana_inntertubing.JPG

May

liana_wake.JPG

What ever you do be extremely carefull.
Small children can get very badly hurt on impact with water and even more if an adult falls ontop of them.
For all water sports a very tight fiting waterski-ing or impact vest is requires and a helmet.
Don't worry kids are smarter than most adults and think helmets are cool!
Regarding innertubing I saw a test that showed increases in Carbon Monoxide in the blood due to exhaust evn with 30 a yard rope. The levels were not too dangerous, but definatly not healthy.
Higher speeds solve the problem, but with kids you can't go too fast.

As for kitesurfing remember that a small kid around 4 to 9 years old will have tons of fun just muching around with a trainer kite in a few inches of water sitting on a surfboard.
Like crawling and then walking let your kids go through all the kiddy stuff before getting them involved in more dangerous sports.

It's great to see you spending a lot of time with your kids, but keep in mind that things can go bad very quickly.

I remember seeing a photo of a kitesurfer with his daughter standing on the board much like you did wakeboarding. The crazy thing was that in the kitesurfers case her long hair was right where the spreader bar and chicken loop where (also no helmet). Just thing what would happen if her hair got all tangled with that stuff. Or even worse if they both did a face plant and the kiter shoved the spreader bar hook through the back of her head or neck. What was worse the kiter was/is a pro and maker of kiting gear.

[DART VADER]

I agree, teaching kids is not easy. My son stars the last year (7 years old) with the trainer foil 1 mq

Is not easy to find the correct size of harness, impact, helmet.

Now Alessandro is 8 , the kite ADVANCE Kaiman 4.8 mq

[sflinux]

I'd start off with the foil with a skateboard or strapless landboard.
When it's time for the water, the foil is still fine, or add a 4M nano to your quiver.
unhooked, no harness, no leash away from beach goers.
Body drag without a board.
Then body drag prone downwind on a surfboard.
You could even use that kite when it gets nuclear.

The 6M phantom is a good kite, but generates a lot of power when it loops. And peter lynns are a pain to inflate & relaunch in light winds.
We had my 22 month old in my lap while we were being pulled in a tandem buggy with a 8M s-arc.