Kickflip Boys

What makes a good father, and what makes one a failure? Does less-is-more parenting inspire independence and strength, or does it encourage defiance and trouble? Kickflip Boys is the story of a father’s struggle to understand his willful skateboarder sons, challengers of authority and convention, to accept his role as a vulnerable “skate dad,” and to confront his fears that the boys are destined for an unconventional and potentially fraught future.

With searing honesty, Neal Thompson traces how his sons fell in love with a sport defined by rebellion, independence, and nonconformity. Kickflip Boys veers from funny to treacherous and back, from skate parks to the streets, and follows Thompson’s own journey to acceptance, forgiveness, and letting go.