Kids Snowboarding First

Let’s set the record straight – Kids do not have to learn to ski before they can snowboard anymore.
There seems to be this unwritten law that kids have to learn how to ski first. All too often I catch parents saying that their son or daughter is taking ski lessons “so they can learn the basics” and then they will let them decide if they want to switch over to snowboarding when they’re ready.
As someone who didn’t start snowboarding until I was a young teenager, I wish my 3-year-old self would have known how to express to my parents that I was born to be a snowboarder. Learning how to ski first did not make learning how to snowboard any easier. I still fell – a lot. I still got frustrated, and I still had to start from the beginning.
Although, when I started skiing, they didn’t make snowboards small enough for kids my size. So, if I wanted to join my older siblings on the slopes, I had to get on two planks.
Thanks to Burton Riglet snowboards like the Burton Chopper and the Burton Smalls, kids can now learn to snowboard without having to ski first. The Riglet snowboards start as small as 80cm and go up to 130cm, and the Smalls snowboards go from 125cm to 145cm.  That pretty much means that as soon as they can walk and balance on their own, they can snowboard, but the Riglet age suggestion is 3 to 6 years old.
If you want your little to love snowboarding as much as you do but you want to try it first, Burton hosts a series of Riglet events during January, which is Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month, with the goal of getting more kids into snowboarding. They offer free Riglet demos and snowboarding lessons, and even have mini terrain park features for the tots to learn on.