Enfant Terrible

Hoops aplenty

MikeLind — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:27:00 +0000

Check this kid out! 6 years old and racing around the basketball court like a demon.

About halfway through the video he makes 6 shots in a row. I'm amazed he can even throw it that far, let alone get it in the hoop every time.

It's obvious that he works very hard at his game, and that he enjoys it just as much. Hope we see him up in lights one day in the future.

Gerrrrrrronimo!!!

MikeLind — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:08:00 +0000

A three-year old jumping off the high diving board? Now THAT is one fearless kid!

Not naming names (I'm much too kind for that!), but some kids I know are still terrified of getting their head under water when they hit five or even six. Sure, everyone has to go at their own pace, but I'm a great believer in getting kids able to swim as soon as possible and that's not only because I'm Australian and swimming is a national religion here.

This kid gets a great big high five from me, not only for loving the water but also for showing a fearless determination to give something a go.

Yes, I think he can dance...

MikeLind — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:17:00 +0000

With all this 'So you think you can dance' hoo-hah all over the telly at the moment, I thought it was time for Enfant Terrible to put a word in. Or more correctly, for this kid to put a word in.

He sure is one of those kids who can move naturally. If you look at Michael Jackson when he was a kid, he was the same. A beautiful rhythm and an incredible sense of the capabilities of their own body. He's sure to be snapped up for a Kanye West film clip any day now, and he kicks those reality show contestants bums.

Cup stacking??

MikeLind — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:34:00 +0000

From the world of bog snorkeling and rolling cheese down a hill comes this crazy sport except, egads... it's actually taken off. Some company has marketed a 'Stack Mat' and there are kids all over the place practicing their cup stacking skills.

I don't know if this kid is champion of anything, but it looks fast to me.

I'm not sure that this is a cool thing for kids to do. I'd much rather see them riding dirt bikes and swinging off ropes into swimming holes. But if a six year old kid can do something that I could most definitely not do myself, well, the least I can do is glorify them with a post on the blog!

Yo!

MikeLind — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:44:00 +0000

Yo Yo in fact.

Now I can't keep up with what kids are into from one moment to the next, I got lost with Tazos and Tamagotchis and all that hoo hah. But as they say, what goes around comes around. So here is the Yo Yo again!

This kid is good. But the yo-yo is different to the ones we had when I was a kid. The string is actually seperated from the Yo Yo itself. Looks tricky.

Love the look. Love the attitude. Love the tricks.

Double Dutch (whoom ba ba! whoom ba ba!)

MikeLind — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:11:00 +0000

For those who don't get my reference in the title of this post, Double Dutch was a minor hit for Malcolm McLaren in the late eighties (I think) and the 'whoom ba ba' was the backing singing going through the song. Awesome song and clip, search it out on YouTube if you get a chance.

But this blog is certainly not about Malcolm McLaren! No it's about cool kids!

So that's why today I am delving into the art of Double Dutch. The basic equation is:

Skipping rope = not an enfant terrible
Double dutch = enfant terrible

Now a lot of the kids in the video (most in fact) aren't very young, but that hardly matters. Show this to your little girl and watch them get inspired!

Peter Rabbit meets the Sphinx

MikeLind — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:34:00 +0000

The British Museum has released a book for anyone who wants their child to get a head start in the world of Egyptology. The heiroglyphic version of Peter Rabbit.

How utterly pointless, but equally how splendidly brilliant!

If your child can't read yet, then I guess they would just have a lot more interesting pictures to look at. And what a shame this wasn't out in time for Christmas!

Plate Spinning!

MikeLind — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:24:00 +0000

At an age when most kids only interest in plates is whether it can be used to tip stuff over your head, little Ethan Cain is really getting the hang of the mysterious art of plate spinning.

Not even two years old!

Plate spinning is one of those quaint pastimes like playing champagne flutes. I can't imagine it would ever hit the mainstream again, but this kid loves it. And at the end of the day, that's really the only thing that matters isn't it?

Snow shenanigans

MikeLind — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:15:00 +0000

I didn't grow up in an area where snow fell in the winter, but if I did I bet I would have done this at least once when I was growing up!

Well done lads, tuck into a well deserved hot choccy!

Boulder Boy!

MikeLind — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:28:00 +0000

This kid is a bit of a spider monkey!

I think introducing kids to climbing at a young age is a great thing. Not only does it promote strength, balance and co-ordination, but it also re-inforces the idea that reaching a target requires hard work and a lot of practice.

It's a great little sport.

Rites of Passage

MikeLind — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:59:00 +0000

As someone who once was a little boy, I get amazing fond memories from this video. It seems to be a common thread in every man's growth to have gone through certain rites of passage with your friends.

Jumping off the cliff in the river is one of those things. With your stomach churning and your brain dizzy from processing the distance down to the water, you just KNOW that it is important that you do it. Particularly with everyone watching.

So you jump.

You can't believe how fast you are dropping and all too quickly you pierce the blue waters. As quickly as you realise you are ok, the sudden wash of elation wells up in you. Pure exhilaration. And one of the greatest things about being a kid.

Gym fantastics

MikeLind — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:22:00 +0000

This is awesome.

It's no so much the great tricks this little girl does - and she does a few, she's quite a contortionist - but it is the amazing little dance bits she does in between! It is purely jaw-droppingly cute, funny and strange.

She is a worthy enfant terrible for the day.

Multi-multi-multi-lingual

MikeLind — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 01:30:00 +0000

This kid in India claims to speak 13 languages!

Now I'm sure his grammer might be a bit off, and he's probably just learnt certain pat-phrases to sell those wierd little peacock feather fans he has there but hats off to him bigtime.

In many ways it's also a sad perspective of this world that a kid with obvious smarts instead has to work selling trinkets to westerners to help his family survive. I hope as the Indian economy continues to boom that the little guys at the bottom like this fella and his family get to share in it, and that he can get off the streets and into a schoolroom instead.

Too young to be this good

MikeLind — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:11:00 +0000

You know I have a little theory about skateboarding.

In the same way as soccer is so popular in developing countries because it is cheap and simple to put together a game, and there are many tricks and skills to learn with the ball - I think skating is the same.

True, if you want skating to be expensive there are many companies who will sell you umpteen different t-shirts and different polymer-composite wheels to put your credit card on cryogenics... but at it's essence it is a piece of wood with wheels. If you showed it to someone who had never seen one before, at best they would consider it a clunky mode of transport.

But when you combine this kid with his board and wheels you don't have just a piece of transport. You have a piece of performance art.

The ingenuity of a desperate snowboarder!

MikeLind — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:35:00 +0000

Talk about a smart kid with a ton of initiative! Ten year old Forest Pearson is a lot more adept than his cinematic namesake. He figured out how to make his own snow machine with $500 worth of gear from the hardware store (saved up from his pocket money of course) so he could snowboard in his backyard. In fact, he managed to create 3 feet of snow overnight.

As his mum says, "He's well past toys now. He's into air compressors and spray nozzles".

That, my friends, is a kid who will change the world.

Hiiiiii-Yaaa!

MikeLind — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:44:00 +0000

Do you remember that scene in The Karate Kid when Daniel asks Mr Miyagi if he can break wood with his hands and Mr Miyagi calmly responds "Don't know. Never had fight with tree."

Well, here is a little girl getting well prepared for that inevitable showdown with her nemesis Elm in the backyard. Now I've been told that the boards they break are not exactly the toughest wood you can get, and they are prepared so that the grain of the wood helps the board to break, but despite my pooh-poohing, how good is this for the girl's confidence? Fantastic.

Dizzy just watching him!

MikeLind — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:44:00 +0000

Breakdancing was in, then it went out, then it was back in... it's kind of like the Hokey Pokey isn't it?

Well whatever it's level of coolness in the future, we at least know that there is at least one ten-year-old proudly holding up one of the four elements of hip-hop. Just in case you don't know and you want to freak your kids out by knowing the four elements of hip-hop they are: Graffiti, Rapping, Scratching and Breakdancing.

Consider yourself schooled!

Dribbling

MikeLind — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:13:00 +0000

At an age when the only dribbling most kids do is at the dinner table this little guy is tearing up the basketball courts.

He is full of sneaky scallywag tricks, and perhaps he is juuuuust a bit of a show off.

But that's what it's all about baby! He is an enfant terrible in every sense of the word. Bold, dynamic, fearless, cheeky and inventive.

When you watch the video you will be amazed just how quick he is and how much smaller he is than the players he is playing against. What a cool kid.

No hiding the cookie jar from this girl.

MikeLind — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:19:00 +0000

I had a spell in life when I used to do quite a bit of rock climbing. Truth be told, I always preferred the indoors stuff and bouldering because all the messing around with ropes drove me a bit spare.

Well, this girl is well on her way to scaling El Capitan. And while I really would have preferred her to be climbing a tree to a refrigerator, you just have to admire her chutzpah.

Ok, a nice one now...

MikeLind — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:47:00 +0000

I know lately I've been posting kids with guns and karate and all kinds of dangerous stuff. So, to chill it out a bit here is something cute-ish... though if this was my kid I don't know how cute I would find lungs of that power after a couple of days.

Any suggestions for future careers for this youngster? Auctioneer perhaps?

Parkour Kid

MikeLind — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:03:00 +0000

If you're unfamiliar with the sport of Parkour, the quick summary is a crazy Frenchman invented running in an incredibly dangerous manner without getting killed.

The notion is to get from A to B as quickly as possible by navigating obstacles in an acrobatic way. If you child wants to do it, be prepared for bumps, scratches, breaks and concussions. (Which isn't to say despite that it's not worthwhile for them to do it... as far as I'm concerned those are better injuries for a child to have than RSI from Playstation).

So about this video... Monkey See, Monkey Do! This kid has been watching his uncle and has taken to the sport with relish. Awesome.

Rollergirl!!

MikeLind — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:49:00 +0000

One of my favourite jokes of all-time is "What's the hardest thing about learning to Rollerblade? Telling your mum that you're gay."

No, that's no homophobic! Just.. just... a reflection of reality. C'mon, lighten up, it's just a joke!

But if you are a girl and attracted to the idea of learning to rollerblade you might as well become awesome at it. And that's what this little girl has done. There must have been hours of tending to blisters and scraped knees involved in developing that skill, so anyone who shows that amount of dedication is alright by me. Even if rollerblading is a bit, y'know...

Kids and Guns

MikeLind — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:32:00 +0000

Tough Kid

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Now I'm not really 100% behind the idea of introducing kids to guns at a young age, but I guess that if everything is locked away and they are introduced to weaponry under the strictest supervision then it's ok. Of course, not everyone does that, but this kid looks like he is being watched over like a hawk.

The thing is that you want to make sure the power of the weapon equates roughly to the weight of the holder. Take a look at the vid... that is one hell of a recoil!

Shaolin Kid

MikeLind — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 01:20:00 +0000

A while ago I promised top hunt down some kung fu kids, and this is definitely one of the best you will ever see. I'm three times his size and I'm scared of him!

Look at him go! At the age of four (yes! he is just four!) I couldn't co-ordinate a cricket bat properly.

Happy New Year

MikeLind — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:07:00 +0000

I took a bit of a break over the new year, so sorry no posts! But to roll in the new year, how about a video of a kid roller-skating under 40 cars?

You know what, I would have been impressed if he skated under just one.