Girls and boys. Why wouldn’t you? It’s great exercise and a fun skill to have for the rest of your life.

We live walking distance from a cheap outdoor rink and her friends were doing it (actually hockey skating, not figure). It was outdoors (see COVID)... and since it's so close, free skating will be a popular tween/teen activity with friends when she gets a little older. We don't even have that much money and don't pay for almost any other activities... Not that serious.

My kids did dance, gymnastics, ice skating and swim. It doesn't have to be either/or.

Anonymous wrote:I think of figure skating as a sort of life skill. Not as important as swimming or bike riding, but I wanted my kids to try it out and have some familiarity with it. Boys and girls. If they liked it, we can keep doing it, but if not, they will at least hopefully be able to go skating with friends someday.

+1, I figured she might want to go with a date someday.

My kids are learning all the basic sports skills - skating, skiing, rollerblading, paddle boarding, kayaking, biking, golf(later), tennis, sailing, rowing and gymnastics. They play club soccer.

I think it’s important to be able to build confidence across different physical challenges.

Skating is a fun skill to learn as a kid and an embarrassing skill to learn as an adult.

My kids are teens now. When they were little, I used to look at the teen youth group activities that our synagogue sponsored. I wanted my kids to feel comfortable doing those activities with their friends. They had skating, skiing, and swimming lessons.

Hockey, of course!

Well I have boys, but my kids both wanted to learn to skate and didn't want to play hockey. They were impressed by watching Olympic skates. We have been skating for two years now and they do love it (they also play baseball and soccer and swim before the county stopped lessons due to covid).

I think of figure skating as a sort of life skill. Not as important as swimming or bike riding, but I wanted my kids to try it out and have some familiarity with it. Boys and girls. If they liked it, we can keep doing it, but if not, they will at least hopefully be able to go skating with friends someday.

I haven't but my daughter is asking...all I see in my mind are bloody teeth sliding across the ice...

At the time, it was a lower covid risk activity than ballet and gymnastics.

Plus, it's not such a commitment.

I try my kids out in whatever they are interested in. Learning to skate is a good skill to have and it is fun. It is more practical than ballet or cheer leading or other things that kids sign up for.

Because like everything we want our kids to try out a variety of activities to see what they like to do. And because learning to skate is a nice skill to have.

Some kids do stick with figure skating and some move on. Some kids do stick with ballet and some move on. Same in any sport.

Many people I know sign up their daughters with ice skating and then figure skating, and are these become popular and replacing ballet or gymnastic (used or still be popular)? And, many parents do not know how to ice skate themselves.