I'm keen to get my little bloke into surfing, cautious of not freaking him out or being too pushy with it.

He is about to turn 4, loves swimming lessons and has had mixed success at the beach.

Have bought him a little wetty and got a couple of hand me down foam boards, anyone else got any handy tips on best way to see if he will get into it?

Id love to get him into the dawn patrol but that's a bit hit and miss as sometimes just wants to sleep in

I got nuthin'. My kids won't go near the beach.

SW your young bloke will enjoy more than anything to be just hanging out with his Dad.

Fathers don't have to do much they just have to turn up.

Start him in the foam and avoid any bad experiences, depending on his swimming experience get him used to being under water in the foam and ride together on a few waves then move him onto pushing him into some foam.

He is a lucky boy / you great Dad.

My kids all got surf lessons from a reputable surf school that started as kids parties with their mates and morphed into school holiday programs with the same mates. Make it fun - throwing their friends for good measure. If they still don't get stoked on surfing, try something else. My three boys are now 12, 14 and 16. I paddle and race in a 6 man canoe crew with my 16 year old. Bodysurf with my 14 year old. Freedive with the oldest and youngest and SUP surf with all three of them. And all of us love the water and can be found jumping off of rocks into the ocean.

Cheers for the advice guys!

I reckon splurge some bucks and grab him one of these nippers boards vault2u.com/elnino-nipper-board-510-mango-deck/
My kids both used one and having the handles on the sides to grab onto gave them heaps of confidence compared to using regular foamies. They also track incredibly straight due to the big single fin. I found most foamies would have a tendency to eventually turn side on in the white water and roll over with really light kids on them but the elnino goes straight all the way to shore.

Great point Mitchbat, can imagine him hanging on for dear life and having a ball.

Take him to surf groms or something like that and find him a friend that likes to surf...put those two together and your well on your way to having a full tilt frother

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Souwester said..
I'm keen to get my little bloke into surfing, cautious of not freaking him out or being too pushy with it.

He is about to turn 4, loves swimming lessons and has had mixed success at the beach.

Have bought him a little wetty and got a couple of hand me down foam boards, anyone else got any handy tips on best way to see if he will get into it?

Id love to get him into the dawn patrol but that's a bit hit and miss as sometimes just wants to sleep in

At 4 I would get a second hand soft longboard and catch the wave with him. He can stand up at the front while you are lying down on the back keeping it stable. The kids love it.

Have got a couple of big ole softy's, hopefully get out on the water Sunday mid morning

i like the idea of doing it with a mate of his, can imagine a pretty cool bond would form
surfing together

Good idea to get the tackers involved early. As said above what ever you are doing they will want to do just to be with you. Great age.

I got my groms there own boards early and let them keep them in their rooms.

I put huge posters of Kelly slater and Steph in tubes on their walls. Every day they wake up and see surfing. I let them follow their own pace in the water making it more fun than anything else.

They are 18 now and both surf well. My daughter leans towards the long board and Sups with me. Grom is making his own way down the coast these days.

Its hard work teaching kids how to surf but very rewarding. Good luck

The surf schools might be a good idea to kick them off