Tips on teaching your kids to surf

by Vanessa Thompson (Byron Bay Surfing Mums)

 

As surfing mums we dream someday that our children will love surfing like we do. When ever I see a little boy riding a wave with a huge smile on his face I always think ‘I can’t wait till the day my little boy will be able to do that’, and what surfing mum does not will the day that her children get her up in the morning to go for an early surf instead of sneaking out of the house with out the kids? Well perhaps some mums just wish their kids would let them sleep in and the kids would go for the surf without mum, but not this surfing mum. In fact I am besieged by the nightmare that my 3 year old will hate surfing and take up the piano instead. Although of course I only wish for him that he finds joy in whatever hobby or sport he takes up, as long as it is surfing! I’m kidding, I want him to be happy with what ever he does, but if he took up surfing I would be ecstatic.

 

My son has reached the age of three years old, a ripe age I assume to start to learn the basics of surfing. By passing the fact that he hates the beach already as he is dragged there nearly every day, I did some research from people in the know, and found out what tips I could to smooth the path of least resistance for my 3 year old to love surfing as much as I do. Here is what I found;

 

 

Chani Demello owner and founder of another excellent website www.momsonboards.com, a mum and surf coach says this about teaching kids to surf:

 

I give surf lessons to kids during the summer at the local school summer day camp and what I have learned about kids is: (definitely start them on a boogie/body board first!)

1. Make sure they even want to learn (sometimes it’s their parents who want them to surf)
2. Talk about safety and the spiritual/mental aspects of surfing first before you even get in the water. Where we live there are a lot of stingrays and you have to shuffle your feet in the water.
3. Have them practice their pop-ups on the sand.
4. Pretty much give them all the tips of surfing before you get them in the water.
5. Before you push them into the wave ask them if this is the wave they want.
6. After pushing them into a couple waves see if they can paddle into a wave (by wave I mean whitewash...that is where everybody should start and stay until they have mastered all that is there to master and then move on to waves before they break)

 

Kids are a strange breed and before the days of surf lessons, you used to just give a kid/person a board, point at the water and let them figure it out. I have given a lot of people surf lessons and I am beginning to think there is something to be said about that approach. You can try to teach someone to surf, but you can't make them a surfer.

 

 

Irene from Spain who is a surfing mum who has taught both her children to surf and has her own webpage http://cibertaller.com/nalusurf/ gave me these tips:

 

1. Always enter the water with your children
2. Encourage them to surf with  friends of a similar age 
3. Four years old is a good age to begin
4. The summer is the best time for them.
5. First have them play with the waves on a day that the waves are small.
6. You push to them in the white water
7. Take care with wipeouts so they do not become fearful.
8. Its important to start on a softboard. I recommend 8' to begin. 
9. Most importantly: fun, fun, fun......

Nathan Folkes, honorary surfing mum, surf coach extraordinaire and father to two girls under three gives this advice: He says number one never leave your kids alone in the surf. A leg rope is not necessary as it can freak them out to have an extra thing to worry about and it’s good for them to chase the board (he says they will sleep better for it!). Only push kids onto very small spilling waves to avoid any fear. Push them out over waves lying down and then push them onto waves and either body surf on the back of the board or just trail the board. Provide heaps of encouragement even when the fall off. In the beginning never let go of the board and then don’t have them stand up till they are ready. Have kids practice on the board on the sand before going in the water, Nat’s daughter who is two and a half has been doing beach drills for a year where she practices paddling and jumping up on the board but has yet to master the art in the water. Nat says it doesn’t matter if it’s a boggie board or a surf board they start on but that you have to let them find the fun first.

 

Julia, surfing mum of three children, two who surf and one who is too young yet, told me this: Julia wanted her children to be free of the expectation of having to surf, and she wanted her kids to learn from their own free will. Both kids learnt themselves in a unique way. Julia was not involved in either’s path to learning how to surf but she surfs with both now. Her family was a surfing family and she didn’t want to push them into the sport. She believes that being able to learn to surf with out mums input was a precious gift. What Julia is saying resonates with Chani’s belief that it’s sometimes better to give them a board and let them learn their own way.

 

I’m sure that as much as I want my three year old son to surf, I will take the direction of unconditional love and let him chose his right to want to learn to surf or learn to play chess, it’s up to him. I’ll support him 100% in what ever endeavor he chooses.

 

We all know what it takes to become a surfer after you have mastered the fundamentals, practice, practice, practice. The good thing is it’s a whole lot of fun to practice and kids seem to master the art of surfing a lot faster than their late to start surfing parents ever did.  Good luck and let us know if you have any tips that have helped your children surf sooner rather than later. Email surfing tips to vanessa@surfingmums.com