If there's one thing I've learned from having a son who skateboards, it's that buying the protective gear is the easy part. Getting them to actually wear it is another story.

I've seen it with my own son and plenty of other kids at the skatepark. They'll happily wear their helmet, but suddenly the knee pads are uncomfortable, the elbow pads look stupid, or their friends aren't wearing wrist guards.

And I get it. Kids want to fit in.

But here's something I've realized over time: it doesn't matter how good the protective gear is if your kid refuses to wear it.

Another thing I've noticed watching my son and other kids at the skatepark is just how often they fall, especially when they're learning a new trick.

And that's completely normal. You can't expect a kid to learn skateboarding without falling a few times along the way.

A few cuts and bruises are part of the process. They might sting for a few days, but most heal pretty quickly.

But there's a big difference between a bruise that heals in a few days and an injury that can leave your kid in pain for months.

Some falls can cause injuries that take much longer to recover from, and that's something I think more parents should be aware of.

I'm not saying we should stop our kids from falling. That's how they learn.

But if there are areas of their body where one bad fall could cause weeks or even months of discomfort, surely those are the areas we should be thinking about protecting.

When you think about where kids get hurt skateboarding, the first things that come to mind are their knees, elbows, wrists and, of course, their head.

And that's exactly why we buy helmets, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards.

But there's another area I've noticed kids land on quite often, especially when their skateboard slips out from underneath them.

Their tailbone.

The problem is, landing hard on your tailbone isn't always like getting a little scrape on your knee.

A hard fall can leave it bruised and sore, sometimes making something as simple as sitting down uncomfortable. And in some cases, that pain can linger for weeks or even months.

Repeated falls onto the same area can also aggravate an already sore tailbone.

That's what surprised me. We spend so much time protecting the obvious places, but rarely think about what happens when our kids land backwards.

Something I never really thought about was how little protection normal clothing actually provides when kids fall.

I've seen plenty of kids at the skatepark wearing thick jeans or baggy shorts, but neither is designed to cushion a hard landing.

Think about it. If your kid loses their balance and lands backwards on concrete, the only thing between their tailbone and the ground is a thin layer of clothing.

Sure, thicker jeans might help prevent a few scrapes, but they won't do much to soften the actual impact.

And that's what I eventually realized.

There's a big difference between protecting the skin from scrapes and cushioning the body from a hard fall.

If we put padding on their knees and elbows to soften those impacts, shouldn't we consider doing the same for other areas they might land on?

After realizing how exposed my son's tailbone was, I started wondering if there was such a thing as padded shorts that could soften those backward falls.

Turns out, there was. But I was surprised to find some pairs costing over $150,

and a lot of them looked ridiculously bulky, with thick padding covering the entire bum and thighs.

Knowing my son, there was no chance he'd wear something that made his backside look twice its normal size.

That's when I came across the Serino Armor Shorts.

What caught my attention was how the padding was positioned around the hips, bum and tailbone, without being unnecessarily bulky.

They're designed to fit underneath normal trousers, with enough cushioning to help soften hard landings while still letting kids move comfortably.

And unlike the bulky pairs I'd seen, they wouldn't be nearly as noticeable under his normal clothes.

They're also currently offering a Buy 2, Get 1 Free deal. You can get two pairs in your kid's current size and the free one a size up for when they grow.

For me, it was exactly what I'd been looking for. Extra cushioning where my son needed it, without making him feel awkward about wearing it.

Because the best protective gear is the gear your kid will actually wear.

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