A child clinging to a mother’s coat, taking a few tentative strokes, trying to stay upright on the slippery surface. It’s an almost Rockwellian image.

A tot learning to ice skate today presents a more anachronistic picture. Instead of holding onto a parent’s appendage, he or she is more likely to be grasping … a walker, made of PVC piping. It helps the child to learn to balance on skates sooner and largely eliminates that pesky falling problem that has nipped many a gold-medal career in the bud. It’s like an on-ice version of training wheels.

Add in hockey or bike helmets for safety and improvements in skate construction, and today’s young skater has gained a real edge, so to speak.

Modern parents like Catherine DesPrez and Gordon Bonin of Orono have looked at skating from both sides now.

DesPrez started on figure skating in a basic group class, and went on to become a competitive skater and instructor. Bonin learned as a hockey player, but also had private instruction to hone his skills.

Now their children are learning to skate in a whole new world.

Their son, Pieter, now 7, began skating on the first day of practice for the instructional group of Orono Youth Hockey. Without any lessons, he’s made great strides since then.

“Skating lessons gave me a great foundation for hockey,” Bonin said. “I’ve been amazed what Pieter has picked up just by skating, in games and two practices a week. It comes down to ice time, ice time, ice time.”

This year, Santa brought hockey skates for the family’s 31/2-year-old twins Willem and Nina, and the family went to break those in at an open family skate the day after Christmas at Alfond Arena, on the University of Maine campus.

Willem didn’t get much use out of his skates that day, or since.

“He was skating between us, and it took Willy five steps to say it was too slippery,” recalled DesPrez.

“He went from instant excitement to instant hatred,” added Bonin.

But Nina grabbed her walker and embraced the activity.

“Nina plowed along and loved it,” DesPrez said. “She just skated and skated.”

The family has gone skating a half-dozen times since then, mostly at Pushaw Lake, substituting a child-size chair for the walker (Willem has been content to be pushed around in a lounge chair, thus far refusing to skate again).

The couple disagreed on the value of the walkers, as they would on several topics throughout the recent interview.

“The walkers help really little kids to go out there and plow around, get used to being on the ice and have fun,” Bonin said. “When I was learning, I was miserable, because I kept falling every three steps.”

DesPrez saw value in the walkers, to a point.

“The walker may have given Nina a great deal of confidence,” she said. “But she hasn’t learned how to fall and how to get up again.”

DesPrez stressed the need for the skate to fit well (see sidebar).

“If the skates flop over, it’s too big,” she said. “Or it may have been laced improperly if you can put too many fingers under the laces in front. You need a good fit all around the ankle. Also, a thick pair of socks is a bad idea. Just put on a regular pair of socks, so they really get the feel of the boot.”

DesPrez recommends that children start with a basic skating course (check with local rinks), and practice whenever possible.

“The more time they get, the better they skate,” she said.

Ice time is the problem for many young figure skaters; hockey dominates the local rinks because of the number of players involved in various youth and high-school leagues.

Kimberlee Hammond of Frankfort became acutely aware of this problem as her 8-year-old daughter Brooke became more passionate about figure skating.

Brooke learned to skate through a Bangor Parks and Recreation Department class last year. Now Hammond pulls her daughter out of Frankfort Elementary School a couple of hours a month so she can skate at Bangor’s Sawyer Arena, a half-hour from her home. Sawyer offers an hour of open skating from 12:30 to 1:30 daily, followed by an additional hour strictly for those wearing figure skates.

On this recent day, there’s a teacher’s workshop, so Brooke and her coach, 13-year-old Hillary Blunt of Hampden, can be on the ice not only for the hour open skate, but also for the figure-skating hour. She’s also a member of the Penobscot Figure Skating Club, so she can skate for another hour on Sundays.

“She gets about two hours a week, and it’s hard to do much with that,” said Hammond, who learned to skate as an adult with her daughter (there wasn’t much opportunity to skate where she grew up, in Saudi Arabia). “If you’re serious about figure skating, don’t live here.”

Brooke decided to become a figure skater after watching the sport on TV.

“I love how graceful it is,” she said.

Blunt also got interested after watching skaters such as Kristi Yamaguchi in action in televised competitions. She has been skating for six years. She began on Pushaw, and as she became more interested she started getting private lessons. She’s competed some, but is focusing more on coaching now.

Blunt, who is home-schooled, estimates that she spends about five hours a week on the ice, split between Sawyer and Alfond. She isn’t sure that greater availability of ice time would make a difference to her.

“I don’t know if I’d be using it more or not,” she said. “I’m involved in a lot of other things.”

Laurin Reeves of Glenburn, whose family recently moved back to the area from New York, has no complaints about ice time. Where her children formerly skated, there was one hour of ice time available a day – for both hockey and figure skaters – and it wasn’t regularly re-iced with a Zamboni.

Her daughter, Bethany, 10, has been skating for five years and is a competitive figure skater. Her 7-year-old son Blythe just started skating this year, but is interested instead in hockey.

Reeves has seen quite a few changes in equipment during the time her daughter has been skating, starting with the walkers.

“The walkers are more high-tech,” she said. “They used to be made of cold, metal bars. The PVC slides much better. Also, there’s different sizes now. They were all one size when Bethany learned to skate.”

Bethany is a dancer, both ballet and Irish, but she’s put her energies lately into figure skating. Her mother got her involved in it.

“I’ve always loved figure skating,” she said. “I took her just for fun, but it’s become her obsession. She now finds dancing too slow. She likes the high speed and the jumps.”

Bethany, who is home-schooled, is also a member of the Penobscot Figure Skating Club, and spends about 13 hours a week on the ice, either at Sawyer or Alfond.

“They’ve got it all here,” her mother said fondly.

DesPrez said figure skating can be an activity for the whole family, whatever its members’ ability levels.

“It’s so much fun for a family,” she said. “We have a blast.”

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 or dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.