The oldest boy is 4 and I want to get him on skis this year.
I ski just fine and have done plenty. Only thing left is to jump out of a helicopter (bucket list).
I am not expecting much and don't expect him to last long.
Though he keeps asking me when I am taking him skiing.

Just looking for some suggestions.
Doubt he is ready for lessons yet just a little time with Dad.

It's easy. Take him to the top of the hill, point him in the right direction and give him this advice.

"Go that way, really fast. If anything gets in your way.... turn!"


The best thing is to find a small hill, get him so he can stand up and not fall down. Teach the basic snow plow and use that for stopping and turning.

Back when I was doing software development, I had a two-year stint on contract in the Denver area.

My wife and I thought about teaching the boys, but first we observed a kid's class that was in progress at Copper Mountain.

It was obvious to us that the teacher really knew how to coach the kids, she loved the kids and they knew it and responded to her. We signed the two boys up for classes with her and I'm positive that we made the right decision.

Not only did the boys really like the teacher, but they had a lot of fun interacting with the other kids in the group.

My daughter is 19 months old, and we'll have her on skis this winter.

Not sure yet if we'll hire a ski instructor or just get her feet wet by putting her in skis with mom and dad. Next winter though she'll definitely be in classes.

Went skiing at Winter Park when my kids were little with a group from our community. My son was about 8 and everyone said he should get lessons. He played hockey and water skied so I thought he could get by without them.

First day we ride the lift to the top and I told him I'd ski down a ways and he'd come to where I was. He saw me stop two skis sideways, so that's what he did on his first stop. I knew no lessons were needed right then. The problem was keeping him out of the trees with older daredevils.

I'd sure like to see him ski now after he did a season in Aspen as a ski instructor. For a flatlander that really only has skied one year, he said he could hang with some excellent skiers.

I learned when I was 4 or 5. I don't remember a whole lot of detail but a few things stuck.

1. I learned without using poles for the first trip or two.
2. Obviously, plow to stop. I think a lot of instructors call this "pizza" for the kids.
3. I learned a very simple way to steer... there was no nebulous talk about how to shift weight onto the edges of skis. My instructor simply taught me that, if you want to go left, then lift your left leg a bit, and vice versa. That has always stuck with me and it's something I taught my wife after she had a ski lesson in Tahoe one year and was having trouble.

Show the child what an athletic skiing stance feels like, plus the basics, and let him rip on the bunny slopes.

My older daughter did a few days of ski school here and there when she was 3-4 years old but didn't really get anywhere.

We had our second daughter via surrogacy, and the surrogate lived in Salt Lake City. The second daughter was born just before our older daughter's 5th birthday.

New babies can't fly for a week or two, and it was too far to drive home, so we were stuck in Utah for two weeks, a couple of days before the birth and almost two weeks after. We figured our older daughter would be bored out of her mind sitting in a hotel room for two weeks while we took care of a brand new baby, so instead of staying in Salt Lake City, we stayed in Deer Valley, and we put her in ski school from two days after the birth to the day before we left.

She did 10 days (in a row) of ski school. The last day was her 5th birthday.

At the beginning of the trip she was wobbly on the bunny slope at the bottom of the mountain. At the end of the trip she was perfectly comfortable on blue and double blue slopes and had done a few black slopes.

She absolutely loved it.

french fries! pizza! french fries! pizza!
all on the bunny slope.


often, children are offered free lessons at many resorts. check around.

I learner to ski at about 9 years. The first time I took a group beginners lesson and that is much better than having a parent try to teach you. After that i learned on my own with practice. At that age you are very flexible and feel like you are bullet proof.
Looking back, a few more lessons spaced out as my skill level grew would have been helpful, but the first one was probably the most important.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
plow to stop. I think a lot of instructors call this "pizza" for the kids.

"V! Make a big V!"

I got my daughter a 1/2 day lesson when she was 6.
It went very well they had them on skis but were experienced enough to know when to "take a break".
They were able to see early signs of hunger and tiredness. We watched her and listened to what the I structors were calling things (pizza not snow plow).

After lunch, we then proceeded to family ski on the bunny hill, for the rest of the day letting her practice what she learned.
Daughter learned enough to be comfortable and enjoys skiing.

Family members learn better from someone else. Save the grief and frustration of teaching family members and put them in a couple of half day lessons.
Kids have a pretty short attention span and the lessons have break and play times built in to a good program. Kids don't like to fail in front of their parents and that can cause much frustration for the kiddos. Let the instructors do their thing. When the lesson is over maybe take a couple of slow runs on the bunny hill with them. Oh and take a fall or two in front of the kiddos to show them that it's not a big deal. Kiddos want to please the adults an when parents and family are watching they don't want to look like bad and they can easily get frustrated. Kids notice that everyone is waiting for them after they fall. Having family members around heightens that anxiety. let someone else do the heavy lifting. Be there to provide motivation and work on honing their skills after the lessons.

Copper and Winter Park in Colorado have great kiddie lesson set ups.

quote:

Originally posted by gw3971:
Family members learn better from someone else.

This.

A friend of mine was a competitive skier in his youth and told me that it would be better for my 5 yo son to learn from an instructor rather than me trying to teach. "Pizza" and "french fries" was a staple in his kids class and he had a ball with other kids.

It's true, kids learn best typically from a non family member.

I learned starting @ 10 years old. Ski Patrol, instructor, even got an invite by the US Ski Team to try out, but I was 15 and parents wouldn't let me go. Nice to get the invite however.

By the time our daughter was old enough to go, we took her, gave her lessons. However by this time our local area - Tahoe - was over crowded and super expensive and with no traffic a four hour drive each way. With traffic, six to eight hours.

She didn't love it, so we moved on.

Lessons. Private lessons if you can swing it.

Former ski instructor here, and parent of two kids. My kids definitely learn better when coached by somebody else.

Everybody is different, but it's been my experience that most kids learn well in groups of peers.

Try a half day lesson. At that age, they learn the basics quick, and then it's just time in the bindings, staying dry and warm, and having fun.

Former ski instructor as well and father of a daughter. Enroll him in a lesson. It can be frustrating coaching your own kid in anything. Plus with a lesson there's going to be other kids there having the same issues that he can relate to.

I keep thinking that I need to get my daughter on skiis. The only problem is that is the indoor archery tournament schedule for us is brutal between the first week in January and the first week in March. The last thing we need is for her to be in a cast when Nationals is going on. However, she did manage to break a national record while shooting on a broken foot...

For the first few years I would rent the ski equipment for the season. The reason I say this is when we used to vacation in the White Mountains in NH in the summer, you could get great prices on skis and boots. When we came back to ski in the winter, the kids grew so fast their boots were too small. Lucky for us the store let us trade them in for a bigger size, then the bindings have to be extended to fit.