In hindsight, one parent taking two children who had never gone ice skating before to a public rink was a mistake. But they both seemed so so excited to go. Our friend Z5's mom had invited us to go with them anc C5 jumped at the chance, she thought it sounded fantastic. Q3, too, thought it sounded like a great idea.
But two steps onto the ice and Q3 was screaming to go back to the door (we didn't. I told her we had to go all the way around with the flow of the skaters). They did get better, able to stand and move forward a bit, but it was very slow going. And about halfway around C5 was ready to get off the ice. Luckily at that point a neighbor who was there took C5 to the door by skating backwards with her; it was just too difficult for me to handle two children.
Q3 and I skated around the rest of the way and I thought she was having a good time, but when we arrived at the doors she was ready to get off the ice. We did so, looped back, and got right back on the ice.
When we got back on the ice C5 decided to skate BACKWARDS. I thought she should master going forwards first, but how was I to stop her while I was holding Q's hand? So I managed to procure a cone, which the rink has around for the smaller kids to hold onto. It actually works very well. We'd started out with one, and C5 rejected it after a bit. So this time I put Q3 onto the base of the cone, and I pushed her. This was quite fun for her. She loved it. But C5 wanted to do that, too. But she was too big. And we managed to get about 3/4 of the way around and our neighbor skated with C5 back to the exit.
Both girls did quite well one-on-one with an adult; not so well when I had both of them.
By the time Q3 and I got all the way around again it was time to get off and let the Zamboni do its magic. We took a break and had some hot chocolate, and when it was time to go back on the ice C5 refused, crying, and Q3 insisted she need to ride.
Ug. I did get to go around three more times. Once with Q3 on the cone; once with K3 who showed up with after the Zamboni cleared the ice, and once with H6, to help him get steady on the ice. That was the most fun, even if I was constantly saying bend your knees, lean forward.
We are going to go back, I think, but with a one parent, one child ratio.
