Ok Moms and Dad: Advice on Introducing My Daughter To Skiing.

[bvibert]

Patience is key. I have none, and as a result neither of my kids can ski for crap. We're going to try the lesson thing with my daughter this year (she's 5). My son is 3. He was out on skis last season and did some messing around on the magic carpet, but not much of anything. We'll try to get him out there again this season too.

Neither of my kids take instruction well, so that definitely doesn't help. Beano, you'll probably have better luck with your daughter is she takes instruction as well as it sounds like she does.

 

[mikestaple]

Tip clip is a must.

Have them put the boots on and clip them in a few days or weekends before you go to the mountain and have them walk around the backyard. They get used to the feeling of the skis on their feet.

That said, I waited until mine were 3 (well, 2.5 for the youngest, but he had to do whatever the oldest two were doing).

He took one on one lessons at Okemo. Nice tiny little hill. He had fun, but I don't think he got anything out of it. He really took off after 5 straight days, at the age of just a week shy of 5, immersed in an all mountain class with other kids that age at Steamboat. Perhaps the Killington class others mention here is the way to go. And no more than 30 or 45 minutes at a time. Life is too short to be denied hot chocolate.

 

[witch hobble]

Patience....and a pocket full of treats. Lots of praise.

Other kids to have fun with or look up to. Backyard or playground activity.

Very short sessions. Warm weather.

2 in december is pretty young, but it can be done.

 

[crank]

I always like these threads because I love hearing about kids learning to ski. My son is now 17, loves skiing and, somehow, has gotten pretty good at it. At 1 I had him in a backpack while xc skiing which mostly put him to sleep. At 2 it was messing around in the yard and maybe a tiny bit on a bunny slope with little strap on skis...all between my legs. At 3 we went out west for a week and put him in a program that combined day care and skiing and gave us time to ski with him in the afternoon. After a couple of days he was riding chair lifts and skiing easier blue runs.

I left most of the instructing to instructors and just had fun on the snow with him. Getting them comfortable balancing and moving around on skis is, I think , key. To that end I would play tag with him on the flats. I taught him how to fling snow with his tips by smacking down the tails. When he got to be 5 and no longer needed any help to get around or pick himself up from a fall, I switched to snowboarding. While painful, learning to board helped keep me from getting bored while putting in mileage on easier runs. Now I hardly ever board because I'm not good enough to keep up with my kid in the trees unless I am on skis.

Like many kids he rebelled against lessons after age 5 or 6. I used to make him take 1 or 2 privates a year, but, he mostly learned by following me. I will only very occasionally stop to give him a tip. I have often led him down trails that I knew were icy or had other challenging conditions just to keep him learning.

Have a great time skiing with your kids. Do it early and do it often and, if you are lucky, you will have willing skiing partners for the rest of your life.

 

[Greg]

Have a great time skiing with your kids. Do it early and do it often and, if you are lucky, you will have willing skiing partners for the rest of your life.

Awesome. That's what it's all about.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Awesome. That's what it's all about.

Ditto...I'm looking forward to this.

 

[jaja111]

Can't wait for this. What a great thread to read as a new dad whose 16 day old future skier is now downstairs with mom being breastfed for the 13th time today after the same number of soiled diapers. I keep thinking about how I'll get him into it and the advice here is precious. Thanks.

 

[Grassi21]

We are putting our little dude on skis this winter. He turned 3 at the end of July. Gotta a full rig and boots as a hand me down from one of the kids I coach. He falls into the good listener category but his Dad falls into the impatient category. Therefore I will hand him over to the capable instructors at Sundown. Preferably with MrMagic in the bumps.

 

[severine]

We are putting our little dude on skis this winter. He turned 3 at the end of July. Gotta a full rig and boots as a hand me down from one of the kids I coach. He falls into the good listener category but his Dad falls into the impatient category. Therefore I will hand him over to the capable instructors at Sundown. Preferably with MrMagic in the bumps.

Good luck. They have to be 4 for lessons at Sundown. Maybe MrMagic can work out a private deal for you.

 

[Chris Sullivan]

There is no rigid age restriction on the “Parent & Tot Lesson”. This lesson is aimed at meeting the needs of people like Beano and Grassi.
Both parent and child take the one hour lesson together. The parent will be able to observe first hand their child’s strengths and weaknesses as well as convey any existing skills to the instructor. After the lesson the parent and child can continue working on the lesson content using the techniques of a professional instructor. Once your kid masters those skills you can take another Parent Tot Lesson or explore other options.
As a consumer you will have the benefit of knowing exactly what you paid for.
I am looking forward to taking these lessons this year with my 2yr old grandson.
Also, severine in respect to your seasons pass options this year. We will offer a mid week 12pack of tickets for $239.00.

 

[jarrodski]

I always like these threads because I love hearing about kids learning to ski. My son is now 17, loves skiing and, somehow, has gotten pretty good at it. At 1 I had him in a backpack while xc skiing which mostly put him to sleep. At 2 it was messing around in the yard and maybe a tiny bit on a bunny slope with little strap on skis...all between my legs. At 3 we went out west for a week and put him in a program that combined day care and skiing and gave us time to ski with him in the afternoon. After a couple of days he was riding chair lifts and skiing easier blue runs.

I left most of the instructing to instructors and just had fun on the snow with him. Getting them comfortable balancing and moving around on skis is, I think , key. To that end I would play tag with him on the flats. I taught him how to fling snow with his tips by smacking down the tails. When he got to be 5 and no longer needed any help to get around or pick himself up from a fall, I switched to snowboarding. While painful, learning to board helped keep me from getting bored while putting in mileage on easier runs. Now I hardly ever board because I'm not good enough to keep up with my kid in the trees unless I am on skis.

Like many kids he rebelled against lessons after age 5 or 6. I used to make him take 1 or 2 privates a year, but, he mostly learned by following me. I will only very occasionally stop to give him a tip. I have often led him down trails that I knew were icy or had other challenging conditions just to keep him learning.

Have a great time skiing with your kids. Do it early and do it often and, if you are lucky, you will have willing skiing partners for the rest of your life.

i try to get out with my old man a few times a year. for our family, it really is awesome to be able to do something together that everyone WANTS to do. so many good memories. a few of which will be brought up in my best man speach that i;ll be making for my brother in a few short weeks.

my parents did exactly what you described when we were young and then just kept taking us new places every weekend. they;re nuts. crazy people. no idea how they did it. we'd do jay peak as a day trip from Connecticut a couple times a year in addition to Sundown passes and other Vermont ski trips to pretty much every place in the state every winter. (including suicide 6!) i think the key was that this is something they prioritized and saw a real value in from a parenting perspective. For us, we didn't mind hanging out with dad because he could keep up and be right there for the fun... and the paying of everything haha.

 

[Grassi21]

There is no rigid age restriction on the “Parent & Tot Lesson”. This lesson is aimed at meeting the needs of people like Beano and Grassi.
Both parent and child take the one hour lesson together. The parent will be able to observe first hand their child’s strengths and weaknesses as well as convey any existing skills to the instructor. After the lesson the parent and child can continue working on the lesson content using the techniques of a professional instructor. Once your kid masters those skills you can take another Parent Tot Lesson or explore other options.
As a consumer you will have the benefit of knowing exactly what you paid for.
I am looking forward to taking these lessons this year with my 2yr old grandson.
Also, severine in respect to your seasons pass options this year. We will offer a mid week 12pack of tickets for $239.00.

Thanks for the update Chris! I will def. be hitting up some parent and tot lessons this season.

 

[4aprice]

Good luck to all you parents of young children. For our family its been great. My daughter now 17 has become a part time instructor and loves it. My son at 14 is entering his 2nd year as a J3 racer.

We put both kids on ski's at 3 1/2. We took week long trips and found a great kids program. In our case it was Aspen and the Powder Pandas program at Buttermilk, but I think any major resort would have decent programs. We supplemented that with a few weekends up north and day trips to the Pocono's. They learned and enjoyed it quickly. We had 2 totally different experiences with the tip attachments. My daughter found then a pain and got them off quickly. My son didn't progress too much until we used them with him and then took off. I never forget the feeling of standing at the top of Rangeview at Bretton Woods talking to my wife then turning around and realizing the kids were already 1/2 way down.

Then my daughter fell out of love with the sport for a while. We were lucky that my parents lived close by and she actually skipped a few weekend trips. We never forced her to go and ski and I think that had a lot to do with her coming back to the sport and now enjoying it more then ever.

I feel so lucky that the entire family skis. We've really had some memorable trips and adventures due to skiing. I hope your kids take to it as mine have.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[severine]

There is no rigid age restriction on the “Parent & Tot Lesson”. This lesson is aimed at meeting the needs of people like Beano and Grassi.
Both parent and child take the one hour lesson together. The parent will be able to observe first hand their child’s strengths and weaknesses as well as convey any existing skills to the instructor. After the lesson the parent and child can continue working on the lesson content using the techniques of a professional instructor. Once your kid masters those skills you can take another Parent Tot Lesson or explore other options.
As a consumer you will have the benefit of knowing exactly what you paid for.
I am looking forward to taking these lessons this year with my 2yr old grandson.
Also, severine in respect to your seasons pass options this year. We will offer a mid week 12pack of tickets for $239.00.

Thanks, Chris. Forgot about the Parent & Tot classes; just knew that for the regular ones, it said they had to be 4 and that proof of age could be required.

That 12 pack of tickets sounds interesting...

 

[SKITODIE]

Our son is now ten. Started him with the real deal equipt. Great time to begin at two! Start slow, an hour. Make it fun! We worked our way up, and then enrolled him in the kids group to play and enjoy being out there. Plus, it gave us an hour to take a few runs. Get them out there as much as you can!