If the skates don’t fit, the child will quit.

Many an attempt to teach children to skate has been stymied by ill-fitting boots.

“That’s led to more early exits on skating outings than anything,” said Rodd Lougee, manager of Gunn’s Sport Shop in Brewer. “Feet can get cold and painful.”

Lougee and Rick Gunn, owner of the Green Point Road store, offered several suggestions for parents seeking the right pair for their child to wear onto the ice.

Gunn pointed to three criteria parents should consider: fit, sharpening and quality of skate.

To get the right fit, the simplest thing to do is to bring the child along.

“Sizing and widths are different from shoe sizes,” Gunn said. “People generally will go higher [than shoe size] when generally the skate size will be a size lower. If it’s too big, it will break down too fast, and you won’t have the performance you need.”

One thing that many people don’t realize is that skate blades don’t come already sharpened.

“Skates need to be sharpened to work properly,” Lougee said. “We’re one of the few places that do sharpening. Other stores send people to us.”

Synthetic leather and nylon are the primary material that recreational skate boots are made of, with others made of molded plastic with a foam liner.

“You need sufficient ankle support, but that doesn’t mean the boot needs to be terribly stiff,” Lougee said.

First-timers to a specialty store such as Gunn’s – which offers the largest selection of figure and hockey skates in the Greater Bangor area, with more than 300 pairs – can suffer from sticker shock. Options for advanced skaters cost several hundred dollars. But Lougee stressed that good recreational skates would cost considerably less. He estimated that figure skates would range from $25 to $100, with hockey skates running $35 to $150.

“We search all manufacturers to find the best values for each price,” Gunn added.

Parents whose children are just beginning to skate should consider used skates.

“It’s a great way to get a higher-quality skate, already broken in, for about half the price of a new pair,” Gunn said.

Catherine DesPrez of Orono, a mother of three and a former competitive figure skater, also advocated used skates for a fledgling skater.

“Kids wear them for so little time that a used pair is often barely used,” she said.

Above all, parents – especially those who don’t skate themselves – should ask questions.

“It can be overwhelming if you really don’t know what you’re looking for,” Lougee said. “We’re careful that people feel comfortable about the whole experience.”

– Dale McGarrigle