Any advice at all on first time ski holiday with a 3 yo?

[Jujubean77]

DH and I are really not experienced skiers at all but we love the idea of introducing DD to skiing and having a cosy winter sports holiday together. We are quite keen on France but open to alternatives. Would love some tips and suggestions x

[andiem]

Go with a company that provide chldcare in the hotel/chalet
we have been with Ski famille Mark Warner and Esprit and they are all good

[MovingOutOfBlighty]

We go with esprit alot.
Went to St anton with them twice and had great time. Not too expensive if you go last minute. My dd age 3 was in 'snow club' all week. In the morning they 'skiied' and in the afternoon was games. Sometimes we took her out and built snowmen etc.

[Jujubean77]

Sounds good will check it out thanks

[Jujubean77]

So can I also ask do they have to go in the "ski club" or is there an alternative to get them used to it very gradually - she is quite slow to get into things...

[LIZS]

If she isn't very physically able and confident I would n't expect her to ski much if at all. Also it could be very cold and that in itself puts many lo's off. I don't think she has to go in a ski session though. Alternatively most resorts have a creche/non ski-kindergarten or look at Mark Warner or Crystal which also have a nanny service. Kinderhotels and Kidshotel usually have a in-house creche with some English spoken which you can use per session (often free) so if you want a morning off skiing you are not obliged to send her.

[Jujubean77]

I will look into that - really helpful thank you!

[piscesmoon]

Make sure that you have English speaking staff. I took DS at that age and it was lucky that it didn't put him off for ever! He was in a lovely French kindergarten but it was all in French-he hated it. I took my mother the next year and he had a lovely time. I think they need to be about 6 yrs to really get a lot out of it, unless you are willing to give up a lot of skiing time to take them to and from lessons and get them into skis etc-unless they are a very confident DC.

[MovingOutOfBlighty]

The 'skiing' juju consisted of mucking around in the snow and occasionally walking around on skis.

Towards the end of the week they went 'solo' down a very very shallow slope for aout 3 metres and then another instuctor caught them! It was not the kind of hair raising thing to worry about. My dd is not always confident about things and she had a great time. The staff were really fun, she fell in love with them all.

Not too sure you would have called what they did skiing. It was more like organised snow play!

[Jujubean77]

Oh that's what I was hoping it would be more of an introduction to snow play!
I did have visions of her skiing down a mountain full pelt while we looked on horrified.....

[BeachMum3]

We went to Ardent last year with Family Ski Company. They have a creche for the little ones (under 4) where they look after them all day, take them out to play in the snow, take them up in the bubble lift and do loads of indoor stuff too. All the staff are english speaking and have the relevant qualifications and all were fantastic.

My 2 year old had a great time, she usually takes a while to settle in new places, but she loved it. The staff were so great, they couldn't do enough to help and semed to be genuinely enjoying themselves.

They have chalets which are great for little ones as you can put them to bed and just be downstairs for dinner within easy baby monitor distance in case they wake up.

[movingnow]

If you want more of a winter sports holiday rather than full on skiing I would head for a small resort rather than a mainstream skiing resort.

[llareggub]

It might be worth you going to a snowdome to get used to it before you go. They usually have sessions for little ones.

[slalomsuki]

We did ski esprit with our 3 year old last december. went to La Rosiere which was great for little ones. Ski school or snow club was just outside our bedroom window so we watched her a couple of times and she never knew. She played in the morning and had lunch with the other kids and then did the ski stuff in the afternoon when it was warmer. By the end of the week she could ski the green run outside the chalet and with help could do the poma tow. Her brothers managed it from day 4.

Ski Esprit were great for us and La Rosiere was very family friendly

[frottie]

we went with crystal ski last year and they were fab and the creche for my 3 yr old was excellent. she went out playing in the snow as well as lots of activities. we picked her up at lunch time then spent the afternoon playing in the snow and starting her of on plastic toddler skis. she only lasted about 10 mins a time but its just getting them used to them before ski school. well it worked for my little boy anyhow. he is 6 now and is parallel turning on reds!! we went to flaine with crystal and going again next year to same resort as so happy with it. i found a shop for kids ski wear that also had loads of info and advice on which may help you www.littleskiers.co.uk

my friend also went with family ski company in a chalet and said they were very good and helped loads with advice etc,

[alypaly]

Flaine is brilliant. It has a french and english ski school/nursery which is in a bowl in the centre of the resort wher all the runs end. The infant ski school is fenced off and it has inflatables to skim and play on . They were fantastic with my two boys and i put them in at 3 years old. They can stay with the group for lunch or you can collect them. Sometimes that is a bit restrictive as you could be stuck on a lift a fair distance away. The skiing is really good for all standards and the snow record is excellent

[alypaly]

typo error ...ski not skim....