Getting Active

Fun Family Time: Scooting to Success

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Written by Tim Barnes-Clay

With family time and fitness at all-time lows – could Micro Scooting be the answer?

 

Micro Scooters UK was founded in 2006 by two mums, Anna Gibson and Philippa Gogarty, after they discovered how much easier it was to get from A to B with their young children using tough, lightweight scooters instead of buggies. As a brand they cater for people of virtually any age – selling scooters suitable for one year-old toddlers up to grandparents. Celeb parents such as Jamie Oliver, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Samantha Cameron have all jumped on the Micro scooter bandwagon and have been spotted racing round town, kids in toe. 

Not only are Micro Scooters fun for all ages, and in many ways a practical addition to family life, but they might also help tackle two of the biggest issues families face today. The Health & Social Care Information Centre (2013) Health Survey that only 24% of girls and 32% of boys in England meet the CMO’s recommendations for the needed level of physical activity to remain healthy – a shocking statistic. Equally, in our busy modern lives, it is harder to find the time to spend together and family time is also on an all-time low. The Official Census (2011) revealed that the average family spends only two hours “quality time” together a week and, according to a poll conducted for National Family week, less than an hour a day together (on average) in any way at all.

Can having fun together really tackle the issue?

As parents, we want to make sure that the problems our children’s generation face are minimal. If the answer to the problems can include having fun and spending more time together, then what could be better? It’s time to start looking for activities the modern family can enjoy together – just like Scooting! As an activity that gets us out of our houses, out into the fresh air to burn off that excess energy and have bags of fun, it’s definitely a great answer to increasing physical activity while being together.

We catch up with a family who gave scooting together a try…

“Trying to find an activity the whole family can do together is an almost impossible task in most households. Having a two year old and five year old with endless amounts of energy, needing constant entertaining, and with parents that want to stay active we have been searching for an answer. Our search was over with scooting! Contrary to belief, it’s not only a child friendly activity. There are adult sized scooters that not only look good, but ride smoothly and give loads of fun. We thought it was great how they collapse down for easy storage and movability as well.

It’s not easy looking for a scooter for a two-year-old, or at least not one that they can move easily and keep up with siblings and parents while riding. Micro Scooter UK has the answer: the ‘Mini Micro’ scooter – a fully adaptable scooter that changes with their growth. We used the sit down attachment which enabled our son to self propel himself. He was able to keep up with us and safely and move around which was lovely for us and enabled us to relax and enjoy the whole experience without worrying about him falling off! 

Our five-year-old used the stylish and fully adjustable ‘Micro Sprite’ scooter, he was able to put it up himself easily and collapse back down. Something that’s really valued by parents as it’s nice to let them take the reins and for the children because they don’t have to ask or wait around to use it.

Whilst using these scooters both boys were learning to balance, improve co-ordination and burn off lots of energy! Developing key skills while having lots of fun is a definite plus in our books!

The two adult ‘Micro Flex’ scooters gave us brilliant exercise, took us back to our youth and most importantly put a big smile on our faces.

The build quality was obvious on first opening the box and the design of all the scooters was flawless. All the scooters are put up in seconds and gave us hours of fun. Going to the park, school and commuting to work on these scooters has been a joy and gave us all the chance of doing something together as a family. It’s been a long time since we’ve had such fun as a family and getting exercise at the same time has been a huge bonus, we will be out on the scooters a lot from now on and would encourage everyone to give them a go!”

You can purchase the Mini Micro, Micro Sprite and Micro Flex Scooters here.