The Chronic Consumer

You’ve all seen those Heely shoes, right? They’re the ones with a wheel in the heel, and have been around for several years now. Well, the 9-year-old kid who lives next door has a pair and tirelessly cruises up and down the block doing tricks or whatever. Of course, my son thinks this is the coolest thing in the world, so he’s been bugging us for a pair of Heelys for a few months now.

The thing is, I think he’s a bit too young for the shoes. He’s 5 1/2 right now, but he’s small for his size and not coordinated enough for shoes like these. I can already see all the skinned knees — or worse — that would result if I bought these.

Unfortunately, the “debate” part of my title comes in because my husband thinks we should at least let our boy try the shoes. He’ll never learn coordination, balance, etc. if we keep him off scooters and skateboards until we think he’s ready.

In other words, it’s two against one here, so I’m probably going to lose this battle. Sigh.