Do I need to get DD new skates/blades now?

[LT]

My 6 year old DD has had the same shoe size now for 18 months...a nice change from the early years where she seemed to go up a size every few weeks! She's been in Riedell 33TS since the Alpha days and I just figured I would buy some new skates when her feet grew. Except they haven't grown!

I really don't want to spend a bunch of money on skates that she will likely grow out of very soon. BUT...she is just starting to work on single jumps and I'm wondering if she needs more toepick than what she has right now. Currently, she is doing half flip, waltz, bunny hop, toe-tap, ballet jump and has landed a few single flips seemingly with no toepick issues, but the pick itself is very small. To work on the rest of the singles does she need a better blade or can I get away with waiting until she goes up a size?

[sarahspins]

She is totally fine with the stock blades on the 33TS for jumping.. assuming her feet don't grow and her boots/blades are in good shape she could conceivably get to axels and even low doubles in them.. which is totally fine.  If she was in lower level boots it would be a different story because some of them have really cheap blades and the boots don't hold up well with jumping, but the 33's are perfect for freestyle for smaller skaters (they are actually too stiff for most skaters in basic levels, in my experience).

The only thing I'd worry about since she has been using them for 18 months, is that depending on how often you've had them sharpened the spin rocker could become flattened, but I wouldn't really worry about that unless her coach has pointed it out as a problem.

[FigureSpins]

The 33 TS's are sturdy skates with a good blade for low-level freestyle.  Her feet have probably been stretching them through wear; I've never heard of a six-year old who stopped growing for 18 months.  If they're not broken down, keep using them, but when she does outgrow them, it'll be overnight, so be prepared to buy the skates quickly. 

[sarahspins]

My daughter wore the same skates for 18 months, from a few months after she turned 6 to just a couple of months ago (she's almost 8 now).. they were a little big (probably about 1/2 size) when she got them, but they were at least 1/2 size too small when she started complaining about them enough for me to get her new skates.  During that time she's only gone up 1 1/2 shoe sizes, so he skate sizing has stayed in line with her normal shoes (her new boots are 1 1/2 sizes larger than her old ones, we again went 1/2 size bigger to allow growing room).

Anywyas, I would presume the OP's daughter's skates were a bit big when she was initially fit.

[LT]

She actually has only been wearing the skates for about a year, it's her shoe size overall that hasn't changed for 18 months. I was hesitant about buying the skates at the time because I was so sure she would grow out of them almost immediately lol!

Actually it's a great problem to have...she models from time to time and size 13 is the sample size for shoes so she's had lots of shoe-related jobs this year  But you might be right they may have been a bit big when she was first fitted, we had no clue what we were doing at the time and she used to wear (and was fitted in) regular socks, whereas now she wears tights.

Glad to hear they will work for a good while longer. Thanks for the help I really appreciate it!

[sarahspins]

when she was first fitted, we had no clue what we were doing at the time and she used to wear (and was fitted in) regular socks, whereas now she wears tights.

Well there you go.. that might account for some extra "growing room" and explain why they are still working out fine, and she may not be in danger of outgrowing them just yet - but kids' feet can grow a surprising amount almost overnight, so be prepared to replace them at a moment's notice

[Sk8tmum]

What does your coach say?  Ours moved our DD out of the 133s as soon as she started working on single jumps above bunny hop - the toe pick is very small, and she wanted our DD to learn the technique on proper toe picks.  But, YMMV - and coaches are different in terms of their ideas.

[LT]

kids' feet can grow a surprising amount almost overnight, so be prepared to replace them at a moment's notice

She is now a 1.5 

And we have new Jackson Freestyles 

[AgnesNitt]

I ran into a skating mom I know, her 6 year old is still wearing the skates she was wearing at 4. My jaw dropped. Her feet have stayed the same size.