Spent years winding up my Yo-Yo wrong, a kid at the park showed me the trick

I always thought you just let the yo-yo hang and flick your wrist to bring it back. Last summer at a park in Lincoln, Nebraska, a 10 year old showed me I was winding the string around my finger the wrong way the whole time. He said you need the string to go straight across your fingertip, not wrapped tight near the nail. Has anyone else had a basic toy skill they just never figured out until someone pointed it out?

2 comments

2 Comments

umak8928d ago

Oh man, that's exactly what happened with me but with skipping rope. I was in my twenties and I'd just whip the rope around all jerky and keep tripping. Then a little girl on my block, must've been eight, she just watched me for a minute and said "you gotta keep your wrists loose and your elbows in." I felt so old. For your wind-up thing, another trick I picked up later is to check that the string isn't twisted before you start. Lay the yo-yo flat on the ground and let the string unwind so it's straight. That little step fixed my yo-yo from sleeping weird. Also, keep that string clean, dirt makes it bunch up. Seriously, kids are the best teachers for this stuff.

mark_smith5928d ago

So I was supposed to be learning from kids this whole time instead of stubbornly failing for years? Great, my ego is properly bruised now.