ShareThisSomeone, somehow, somewhere decided to create a new breed of footwear by crossing a sneaker with a roller skate. Children's shoes haven't been the same since.If you haven't seen kids rolling around on wheeled sneakers lately, you must be living in a cave. Boys and girls alike are proudly wearing their roller shoes and whizzing by at shopping malls and on sidewalks.There's no question that the shoes are a hot trend. Despite the 1,600 injuries reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission last year alone, good luck trying to steer your kids away from them. But let's at least find the pair that suits your child best.TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE Sneakers with wheels in the front and back offer more control and stability than shoes with a single wheel in the back. Safety experts say putting a small child on a single-roller shoe is like having them balance on a barrel.REMOVE OR RETRACT? Some shopping malls and stores prohibit the wearing of wheeled sneakers. Check to see whether the shoes you're considering convert easily from skates to street shoes. Some sneaker-skates require a special lever to remove the rollers, while others have wheels that retract with just the press of a button.SMALL SPACES, BIG TROUBLE Check the space between the roller and the wheel well. If there's too much space in between, that spells danger. Small rocks and debris are susceptible to getting lodged in that area. If anything gets caught there, it could suddenly stop kids mid-motion, catapulting them forward and potentially causing serious injury.BIGGER IS BETTERRollers that attach to your existing shoes are wider than the shoe itself. These actually offer more control. But if you're being pressured into buying a built-in, single-roller sneaker, look for broad-based wheels that are bigger in width and diameter. They'll offer more stability than smaller, thinner wheels.BE LEERY OF LACES Steer clear of super-long shoelaces. Long laces are a safety hazard for children. If shoelaces can trip up people who are just walking, imagine what they could do to a kid whizzing by on wheels. Make sure that laces are an appropriate length when your kid's roller shoes are tied.PRIORITY PADDING Practice makes perfect with just about everything. But in this case, don't let your kid even practice without layering on the protective gear. Make sure to budget for elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards and a helmet when you buy roller shoes. No exceptions.This part should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway. Nothing -- and I mean nothing -- beats parental supervision when it comes to kids doing anything that poses potential danger. And these cool-looking, trendy, everybody's-doing-it roller shoes do just that. So roll with care.(Helen Malani is the chief shopping expert for Shopzilla.com, an E.W. Scripps company and the largest comparison-shopping search engine on the Web. Got something to say about shopping? E-mail askhelen(at)shopzilla.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.net)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Wheeled sneakers are fun, but use them with caution
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