It's a quarter past 4 and your child is riding 3 meters ahead of you. At every gate or exit between two parked cars, you hold your breath, because a car turning onto the street simply won't see a five-year-old. Scootering through the city is fantastic and at the same time a little exciting, because a city simply isn't built at a child's height. And yet, that child's scooter is probably the best thing that can happen to your child on the way to school. It's faster than walking, it turns a boring route into a course with turns and braking moments, and a child who moves through traffic independently every day learns to read traffic better than anyone, in a way that is never possible in the back of a car or in a cargo bike.
Can a child ride a scooter on the pavement?
Yes. Anyone moving on a regular, non-motorised scooter at walking pace is considered a pedestrian in Belgium and therefore belongs on the pavement. If your child rides faster than walking pace, the rules for cyclists apply and you may ride on the cycle path. There is no minimum age for non-motorised scooters; only for electric scooters is the minimum age 16 years.
In practice, this means: as long as your child stays next to you and doesn't dart off, you're fine on the pavement. As they get older and really pick up speed, they'll move to the cycle path with you. That sounds like a technical detail, but it's exactly the moment many parents hesitate. Handy to know for later: anyone leaving their scooter on a pavement must leave at least one and a half metres of clear passage for pedestrians. A rule that primarily concerns electric shared scooters, but which also explains why you shouldn't leave your scooter across the entrance of your house or a shop.
Where is it safest for a child to ride?
The rules tell you where it's allowed, not where it's smart. The difference lies in the details of your own route. Let your child ride on the building side and you take the street side; then you are between your child and the traffic. Agree on one simple rule that applies everywhere: at every driveway and every intersection, a foot goes on the ground. Children remember one rule much better than five, and that one rule prevents almost all near-accidents.
Additionally, choose a fixed route and ride it for weeks on end. A child who knows where the slippery manhole cover is and where the uneven tile is will automatically look up more and down less. It's most comfortable in residential areas, cycle streets, and low-traffic streets, even if that sometimes means a two-minute detour. At a pedestrian crossing, your child dismounts and pushes the scooter across: crossing as a pedestrian is safer than riding, and it's a habit that sticks when they later transition to a bike.
Being seen as it gets darker earlier
From mid-September, you'll notice it every week: at five o'clock it's already twilight, and by the end of October you're driving home in the dark. A child on a scooter is small, moves quickly, and is below the mirror height of most cars. Visibility at that moment is no longer an extra but the most important thing you can arrange, and fortunately also the cheapest.
What makes the biggest difference is not on the scooter but on your child: a fluorescent vest, reflective jacket or backpack with reflective strips catches headlights from much further away than a single-sided light. In addition, there should be lights on the handlebars, as these turn a silhouette into a recognisable vehicle. Some models of Micro Mobility scooters have LED lights in the wheels and sometimes the handlebars that light up automatically as soon as they turn, without batteries or buttons. Small clip-on lights for handlebars and frame can be found separately with our bike accessories. The former works better with children than any good intention, because a light that needs to be switched on is forgotten, and a wheel that lights up by itself is not. For those who want to keep it playful, there are also light strings and coloured wheel lights from Brightz that turn the way home into a small party and will certainly catch the eye.
Which scooter suits which age?
In short: a scooter from In den Olifant simply grows with your child. For the first few years, roughly from one to six, a child is most stable on three wheels, with a handlebar that extends upwards and, for the very youngest, a seat underneath for when their legs get tired. Somewhere around five years old, their balance is good enough for two wheels, and that's also when they want to be faster and more agile themselves. From then on, you don't need to buy a new one: the same scooter happily continues into their teenage years, because the handlebars reach adult height. Balance bikes and tricycles are the step before, children's bikes the step after.
Which wheels suit which age, we have extensively described in from balance bike to scooter: how to choose by age. There, the ages, number of wheels, and transition moments are neatly aligned, so you don't have to keep guessing here.
Practice on Sunday, September 20th
This year there's one day when the city belongs to the children. During the Mobility Week, from September 16th to 22nd, Antwerp city centre will be car-free on Sunday, September 20th from ten in the morning until six in the evening. Only public transport, emergency services, and taxis will be running then. Cars will make way for numerous unique activities that day. The Car-Free Sunday programme includes a festive roller parade, sliding on a tube in the Brabant tunnel, climbing giant bouldering blocks, trying out new modes of transport, or enjoying a drink in the middle of the Frankrijklei... An ideal day to explore our city with your child(ren)!
For a child just learning to scooter, this is a golden opportunity. A street without cars is the only place where they can truly practice what's usually an added challenge: gaining speed, braking for something, making a turn without dismounting. Our own street, Lombardenstraat, is within this car-free zone. If you'd like to visit that day, you can, as our shop is open that Sunday (like all other Sundays of the year) from 1 PM to 6 PM.
What we look for before you order
In den Olifant has been in Antwerp since 1970, and we've been selling scooters much longer than they've been trendy. That makes us particularly picky about what doesn't make it into our collection. We stick to two top brands instead of five, because with a brand like Micro, which keeps every part individually available, you can still order a wheel, a brake, or a handlebar cover after three years instead of a new scooter. And for the trendsetters, big and small, we have the Spanish brand Banwood. For the very youngest, we deliberately choose balance bikes that grow with them, because a child who learns to balance on two wheels won't need to unlearn training wheels later on.
For a helmet, only one thing matters: fit/safety. It should rest on the eyebrows, not on the back of the head, and the adjustable dial at the back should tighten without pinching. Each product page lists the circumference in centimetres and the age for which the model is intended, precisely so you can make that choice at home just as well as with us by your side.
So what really matters this autumn: a scooter that fits your child's height, a helmet that fits well, and enough light to be seen before it gets dark. All scooters, all helmets and the lights and accessories are sorted by age online. Ordered in a few clicks, and in time for the first dark evening.
