Hey,
Haven't been on here in a LONG time.
Getting ready to take my 5yr old skiing for the first time.
What are some good tips or tricks to keep him from getting frusterating and wanting to quit?
I would highly recommend a childrens program. Not only will the pressure of teaching him be off of you, but also he will have a great time interacting with the other children.
After he is skiing on his own and making turns a fun activity to do is ski backwards and let him fist bump you. Or mabye set up a "slalom" course with ballons dropped in the snow and let him ski around those.
Ditto on the put him/her in kids school. Those instructors are trained to teach the little ones and have a whole bag of tricks in their qiver.
Definitely agree on the advice given here. Absolutely worth the investment. Depending on your child's personality, it might not be a bad idea to first spring for a 60 or 90 minute private lesson.
We took my 3 y/o to WhiteTail last month for her first time on skis. I elected to ride the margic carpet with her, then just let her get a feel for the skis and snow. My wife "backstopped", and our daughter loved it.
I think next time I'll opt for lessons, but for the first day, I thought that worked pretty well.
If it snows locally, have your child walk around/play around on skis in your back yard. This assumes that 1) you have a back yard and 2) you have bought/rented some cheap skis/boots/poles from a place like Play it Again Sports and 3) we get at least 3 inches of snow or so.
Kris wrote:
Hey,
Haven't been on here in a LONG time.
Getting ready to take my 5yr old skiing for the first time.
What are some good tips or tricks to keep him from getting frusterating and wanting to quit?
Where are you most likely to go to start with?
A good children's program can do wonders. I mixed a day of ski school with a few hours of skiing with me the next day the first couple years. My daughter started at age 4, which is the age that most ski schools start in the Mid-Atlantic. She loved the program at Massanutten. There are good programs in a number of other places as well.
If not in ski school, good to ski for an hour or so in the morning, take a long break, then go back for another hour or two in the afternoon. Of course, if you are going on weekends it can get crowded after 11:30 or so. Going mid-week is a much more relaxed time to get started.
Snowtime has a kids mountain camp with 3 1/2 hours of lessons, and 1 hour with parents. Mid week it ends up being almost private. They let the kids go in and out, ski and play. I always had great luck with that. Instructors were very good.
On Wednesday my son and I wll take my grand daughter, age 2 yrs 5 months for her first day. I got her one of these, which it think is a much better idea than hula hoop or chest harness because it will not pull her into the back seat.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GzANspoJUoc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGzANspoJUoc
it will be at a city park here in Chicago on a small walk up hill. If she decides to just roll in the snow instead, that will be OK. We have no idea what will happen. She loves being outside and snow and a day is not complete without going outside, like today to the park and swings in 3 degree weather, bundled up of course. I am an experienced instructor, but not with kids this young except for my 3 grandsons. They all took to it immediately.
I skied a few miles XC today on the Lake Michigan shore line. It was fun but brisk.
Thinking about taking him to Timberline next thursday for locals day. Supposed to be in the high 40s. Might be a good day to take him. Not so cold he will get cold and want to quit.
That harness thing looks pretty neat. Looks like a big dog leash...lol
+1 for lessons.
I just started my six-year-old this year at Bryce, and their kids program is great. They actually break it down into morning and afternoon sessions, and I'd only paid for the morning. When we met my daughter to grab some lunch, the first thing she asked was "Dad, can I come back for the afternoon?" How could I say no?
We were fortunate enough to go up to Okemo a couple of weeks later with college friends of ours with twin six-year-olds. We hired a private instructor for the three of them for a few hours. This turned out to be only a few dollars more than the kids program (Okemo is nice enough to let you ride the carpet slope for free). All three kids had real breakthroughs; the twins were skiing the greens and riding the lifts the next day, while my daughter was bombing the carpet slope, weaving in and out of the minefield of never-evers that littered the snow.
I'd also strongly recommend a grab-handle. We use the Lucky Bums handle and harness. I don't even mess with the straps, but the grab-handle is a godsend. I rode the lift with an instructor and her three-year-old student on Saturday at Massanutten, and she recommended against the straps as well for the same reason Denis suggests above - they pull the kid into the back seat.
The trip with my grand daughter was a success. It quickly became clear that she could not stand alone while gliding even with the ankle straps to control speed. At 2 yrs. 5 mos she is just too little. So I held her under the arms so she could feel the sensation of moving downhill on skis. She loved it which was the most important objective, even though I had said beforehand that I wouldn't do that. She did master walking on the skis on snow on flat ground with good balance, so she has a take away skill.
Reisen wrote:
We took my 3 y/o to WhiteTail last month for her first time on skis. I elected to ride the margic carpet with her, then just let her get a feel for the skis and snow. My wife "backstopped", and our daughter loved it.
I think next time I'll opt for lessons, but for the first day, I thought that worked pretty well.
Just to follow up, we took my 3 y/o to Whitetail twice last weekend. The first day (Saturday), she took a private lesson with "Gerhardt", and we were very impressed. Expensive, but definitely worth it. She responded very differently to him than she does to me. We learned a few things, including the idea of skiing backwards in front of her and getting her to reach out and try to grab you (keeps her weight forward).
The second day (Monday), I tried teaching her again with moderate success. She only lasted 30 minutes (compared to 90 minutes on Saturday) before she got tired / hungry. I think one of the main issues is she's used to being coddled by her parents (hugged, kissed, picked up, carried) and is lazy with us, where as she is more independant with a pro. On the flip side, we're more likely to try to help her (pick her up and untangle her skis, push her / pull her on flat ground) where as the pro is going to make her work more, which is good for her. Remember, we're still young parents, and she's our first. The second kid will probably get plopped on the hill while we sit back with beers and laugh when he falls (that's a joke!).
I'm confident I'll be able to teach her as she develops, but at this young age, and just learning, a pro is worth it. I spoke to WT's ski school, and they suggested just putting down that she's already 4 if we want to put her in ski school. She's only a month away (birthday in April), and is fully potty trained, which is their main concern. This is in contrast to Massanutten, which requires a birth certificate (how stupid!).
Massanutten's loss and WT's gain, I guess.
Reisen wrote:
Reisen wrote:
We took my 3 y/o to WhiteTail last month for her first time on skis. I elected to ride the margic carpet with her, then just let her get a feel for the skis and snow. My wife "backstopped", and our daughter loved it.
I think next time I'll opt for lessons, but for the first day, I thought that worked pretty well.
Just to follow up, we took my 3 y/o to Whitetail twice last weekend. The first day (Saturday), she took a private lesson with "Gerhardt", and we were very impressed. Expensive, but definitely worth it. She responded very differently to him than she does to me. We learned a few things, including the idea of skiing backwards in front of her and getting her to reach out and try to grab you (keeps her weight forward).
The second day (Monday), I tried teaching her again with moderate success. She only lasted 30 minutes (compared to 90 minutes on Saturday) before she got tired / hungry. I think one of the main issues is she's used to being coddled by her parents (hugged, kissed, picked up, carried) and is lazy with us, where as she is more independant with a pro. On the flip side, we're more likely to try to help her (pick her up and untangle her skis, push her / pull her on flat ground) where as the pro is going to make her work more, which is good for her. Remember, we're still young parents, and she's our first. The second kid will probably get plopped on the hill while we sit back with beers and laugh when he falls (that's a joke!).
I'm confident I'll be able to teach her as she develops, but at this young age, and just learning, a pro is worth it. I spoke to WT's ski school, and they suggested just putting down that she's already 4 if we want to put her in ski school. She's only a month away (birthday in April), and is fully potty trained, which is their main concern. This is in contrast to Massanutten, which requires a birth certificate (how stupid!).
Massanutten's loss and WT's gain, I guess.
Great to hear your daughter had a great time skiing at WT. I can attest that Gerhardt is an excellent instructor. Hope you can get her into a KMC program she will have a lot of fun!
Reisen wrote:
I think one of the main issues is she's used to being coddled by her parents (hugged, kissed, picked up, carried) and is lazy with us, where as she is more independant with a pro.
This has definitely been our experience. My kids seem to automatically put the instructors in the "teacher" category and are more apt to follow instructions from them. This was especially important their first time on skis, when they were dealing with an entirely new experience. With both of my kids once they had a lesson or two and grasped the fundamentals I was able to teach them better. Good news is that they really do pick it up quickly - at the beginning of the season my 5 year old would not go down the learning area at Massanutten without holding my hand but by this weekend she could handle Dew Drop at Timberline.
