Musings on Micro Scooting in Merton!

[LocalEditorMerton]

Thoroughly Merton Milly, ace junior reviewer/reporter, is lucky enough to have been given a Maxi Micro Scooter (suitable for ages 6 - 12 years), courtesy of Micro Scooters, to try out and use over the Easter school holiday.

With BST having nicely segued with the start of the Easter school hols (for once!) and spring officially sprung, it's the perfect time to get the children out of hibernation for some fun outdoors family togetherness! What better way to do so than on a Micro Scooter, with a fabulously colourful range (some of which can be personalised too) to suit the needs of all the family, from your toddlers to infants, tweens, teens and not forgetting the grown-ups too!

Scooting is a fun and easy way to incorporate family fitness into the activities of your everyday life. And what's more, scooters are allowed on footpaths and pavements, making them the ultimate in safe but active fun! From doing the school run, to short scoots to the shops or local park, longer outings and even exercising your dog, according to Sustrans scooting has great benefits:

• improves health through physical activity;
• develops road safety skills;
• establishes positive active travel behaviours;
• promotes independence;
• reduces congestion, noise and pollution around the school;
• reduces environmental impact of the journey to school.

Micro Scooters has teamed up with Mumsnet London sites to offer your children a great alternative to chocolate as an Easter treat ! Save over £15 on a Candy Lilac Special Edition Micro Scooter with this exclusive offer. Remember to use voucher code MICRONET at checkout. And whilst you're ordering one, why not check out the other special set offers for your older DCs too! And with FREE next day delivery (with one hour timed delivery slots) on all orders over £50, your scooters will arrive ahead of Easter weekend! Hurry before the offer scoots away on the 20th April!

Thoroughly Merton Milly will be adding updates about her Micro Scooter adventures from now the end of the Easter school holiday period.

In the meantime, why not tell us about your DCs' Micro Scooters adventures over the years? And tell us why they're the brand for you and your family. We'd love to hear your memories and thoughts!

The school run - According to a recent BBC report children's scooters have soared in popularity in recent years, with Sustrans reporting that between 2013 and 2014 the proportion of UK pupils regularly scooting or skating to school went up by more than half from 9.3% to 14.3%. For parents, the appeal is obvious - kids often don't feel like walking, particularly on a monotonously repetitive 'groundhog day' school run. Scooters are a great distraction that allow a child to travel at an adult's pace and make the walk to school quicker and fun.

Thoroughly Merton Milly does an hour of school run walking a day and it's become a chore and a bore that doesn't necessarily give much prolonged kerb appeal to going to school.

She's tried scooters (at least three!) in the past and had an eye on a Micro-Scooter since she was a toddler but somehow precise brand purchasing instructions seemed to get lost in translation when presented with the myriad options available in local toy shops. So until now a robust, silent, lightweight and durable scooter has eluded her.

Although the Maxi Micro Scooter only arrived at the beginning of the week, she did have time to give it a couple of outings on the school run before the end of term. With the temperature taking a big dip, it was great for her to be able to be more active on her scooter and shave at least five - ten minutes off journey time each way. She veritably glided along like a poised princess leaving a parent running along - in less than dignified manner - at breakneck speed (sensing a need to buy an adults Micro-Scooter to make it more enjoyable for all concerned!), struggling to keep up - you can picture the scene!

Thoroughly Merton Milly felt very much one of the 'in-crowd', with her trusty new 'scooter' steed, as Micro Scooters seem to be the preferred option at her school. Of course most have standard blue and pink ones, so she was wise enough to go for a more unusual colour. A bit worried about someone stealing it though, as there seems to be quite a high incidence of theft (or long-term loaning!), rife across schools up and down the land! She is intent on customising hers ASAP and wants to investigate lock options to minimise the likelihood of it going AWOL.

I always thought Micro-Scooters were really expensive BUT having seen how long they last and that various parts can be replaced, I'm now convinced otherwise.

I always get the impression that Micro-Scooters are very much a middle-class London thing though.

Thoroughly Merton Milly has been practising her moves on her Maxi Micro Scooter, on occasion with some other junior Mumsnetters.

What is clearly evident (some ten days in), is that having her scooter has made her a lot less reluctant to go out and about on 'regular' (i.e. shopping) rather than 'fun' trips. This can only be a good, positive result!

Here are some practical observations on how she's been finding her Micro Scooting experience so far.

The scooter is lightweight which makes it easy for her or a parent to lift up or carry comfortably, even on a shopping trip.

It steers in a straight line effortlessly, so can be 'walked' along in shops, in busy pedestrianised areas and indeed anywhere else where scooting isn't deemed appropriate.

The T (handle) bar makes it very easy for a parent to easily hold it and pull or guide a child along (quite useful when crossing roads or if they're tired and have run out of 'va-va-voom').

The scooter is a very 'smooth operator' and glides well over the relatively uneven pavements of London! It also steers very easily so momentum is maintained. It also performs reasonably well 'off pavement piste' although one couldn't vouch for its longevity if used constantly in such a way!

To the Womble within (after all Thoroughly Merton Milly does live in the borough, home to our furry eco-warrior friends!), that replacement parts are readily available for times when the scooter may need a little helping-hand TLC (to get it back in tip-tip scooting condition),
can only be a big plus. The initial price-tag may make Micro Scooters seem more expensive than other makes currently on the market in the UK, but these spare parts mean that life expectancy should be considerably longer than that of rival models, making it a more cost-effective option. All good!

Being able to personalise it with all manner of pocket money-priced accessories is
greatly motivating in helping a child to take 'ownership' of the scooter and in ensuring it reflects the character of it owner. Moreover the value of customising one's scooter cannot be underestimated (to make it easily identifiable in the school scooter/bike park, the playground or any other gathering where Micro Scooters abound!).

Fancy getting one of these for myself. I would have thought that the Micro Scooters market was 'saturated' for smaller children, particularly in the leafy 'burbs' of London and surrounding Home Counties. But you could try doing a push to get older children and adults to buy them? Any chance of a discount codes chancer that I am?????????

NOTE: CANDY LILAC SPECIAL EDITION MINI MICRO SCOOTER OFFER (save £15+) EXTENDED UNTIL MONDAY 20TH APRIL here.

The Easter hols are just about over (give or take tomorrow's INSET day for many of the borough's state primary school pupils), so time to add a footnote to Thoroughly Merton Milly's scootastic adventures (to date - there will be many more ahead!) on her Maxi Micro Scooter (prices range from £99.95 - £124.95 for a stand-out customised 'Create Your Own' version).

Her scooter was very easy to assemble - took all of about 30 seconds, once we'd realised the enclosed Allen key was needed! It is lightweight enough to be taken out (and carried if need be) without being cumbersome. It seems robust, all good when considering the rough treatment it's likely to get along the way!

Thoroughly Merton Milly's was chosen as appropriate for her age (she fits snuggly within the age-range parameters for this model). It is however already fully extended, so disappointingly, unlikely to see her thro' to the cusp of teendom (she is tall but not exceptionally so). With the benefit of hindsight, we should have opted for a *Micro Scooters' model designed for the teenage market.

The Maxi Micro Scooter has already proved itself worth its weight in gold, turning virtually every trip out into a pleasure rather than a chore, so much so that to keep up with Thoroughly Merton Milly, in style and speed stakes, investment in at least one Adult Scooter is on the cards.

Now that the weather is warmer, it's an ideal opportunity to ditch the car or public transport, and let the children have a bit of fun and exhilarating exercise on the way to school! What's more, you may be interested in getting your DCs' school to sign up to the Scooters for Schools initiative.

And if you still want to learn more, why not check out the Mini Micro scooter explained page .

Get scooting to school this summer!

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