Wakeboard for kids (beginner)

[TwinTip]

Greetings from the father of a new wakeboarder!!!!

It was a great weekend. My buddy showed up with a 124 board and my daughter was ready for the challenge. He is great with kids and in no time, she was in the water feeling comfortable with the board on. Then she went to the back of the boat with my buddy beside her (he was also riding). She started coming up while being assisted by my buddy and once she was up, he let go of her and she was riding like a champ. Her greatest difficulty was in getting used to holding the handle close to her hips as she is used to skiing in combos.

At any rate, although she did great with the 124 (at least from what I could see), the board did not have any room for moving the bindings closer or farther apart (I found this weird but that was actually the case). I felt that she had her legs too far apart so I will buy a smaller board to start (yes, I see this now) and see how it develops.

So thank you all for the different pointers. I am very happy that she was able to wakeboard and mostly that she really liked it.

[teamenzo]

Wakeskate

What do you think of having kids learn on a wakeskate? That is the method I went with with my 9 year old and he advanced really quickly. It seemed to force him to develop really good balance straight from the start. We sort of fell into this as we had a small wakeskate available, but he had a blast on it for 2 months before I figured out what wakeboard to get him (Ronix Vision 120, w sweet Liquid Force bindings). The speed is slower as well, and the falls are nothing in comparison. He even got comfortable charging hard and just dumping the board for kicks.

[DLafont]

Besides the gear...

Any pointers on how to get the kids started? I'm thinking of getting my girls started next summer, but not too sure of how to start them off. Thanks for your input!