Skiing with a 1 and 3 year old

Make sure to take pool stuff. If there’s a thermal pool in town it’s ideal place for grandparents to go with baby in the mornings, or you all head to late afternoon when kids can place and adults enjoy also.

We ski regularly with now 4 year old. Last year at 3 he was knackered after two kid slope runs so I wouldn’t think a full morning is really suited. Now he can do a few hours but it’s broken up with stopping for drinks/ snacks/ lunch. It’s max around 45mins really before he wants a break. At his kindergarten they take them but realistically it’s only the 4-6 year olds, more likely almost 5-6 year olds that really sign up. So if he’s at ski school I would assume that an adult ie grandparents or you will
need to stay close or on site rather than a free morning to ski.

We took grandmother and DD at aged 1 to Austria and then used ski esprit (sadly no longer but other companies offer similar) To be able to ski a good half day felt like such a treat that we didn't feel we needed to push it all day every day which worked well. Adding in the child friendly apres ski activities like sledging, igloo building, swimming, hot chocolates, fondue and giant cakes made it nice for all especially if some days the kids ski lessons had not gone as well.

As the 'hands on child free friends' in your scenario, don't assume the level of hands-on ness will be the case on a ski trip as it might at home. They have paid a lot of money for their holiday, and may well want to ski a lot more than you will be able to. They may not want to be beholden to the timetable of ski school (especially being back at 'base' after just 2 hrs) and may want to ski longer.

We have done this with our friends when the kids were 4, 7, 8 and 11 (same friends, 4 trips, kids getting older each time!) We do typically wait until ski school drop off has happened so we can all start the day together, but we don't ski the whole day in a group. I'm not keen to clock watch and make my way back to ski school for 2.45 each day, so we usually part company with the parents at lunch.

The 3yo is pretty young for ski school - it's worth being mentally prepared for that not to work out.

I think the main thing is being mindful of ALL the people on the trip, and trying not to make everyone's holiday being arranged around the needs of the 1 and 3 year old.

It can work really well (otherwise we wouldn't have done it 4 times!), but be prepared for all kinds of scenarios and possibilities! And enjoy!

Ski familie is a good alternative to espirit

You need to be prepared that your 3 year old might cry at the idea of ski school. Even if he's fine being left at nursery etc normally. We just lowered our standards enormously and bribed with jelly babies etc. It was worth it in the end.

They also get very exhausted skiing so make sure you are prepared for the meltdowns have more sweeties etc on hand.

We had to persevere with both of ours at age 3/4

I think ski school in Austria is different to what it is in France. I'm glad mine have learned to ski in Austria when I see the quality of skiing from some of the kids in France they just seem to pelt off out of control.

We are off on Saturday I can't wait 😁

You will be fine - book a private lesson or two if you'd like the extra confidence. Maybe start doing some squats/wall sits to work on your quads.

If your 3 year old is more adventurous than my kids, they will be fine. Make sure they can take their own ski gear off if they need the toilet.

Get good insurance!

Unfortunately our first family ski trip didn't go brilliantly. Both kids (7&4) were scared in ski school but we persevered and they were starting to make some progress a few days in. Then DS1 fell while skiing with us on day 4, and broke his leg. He is still adamant that he's never skiing ever again, DS2 would probably give it another go but I'm taking at least one season as a breather!

Oh we also did sledging and we had the ice cave to visit.

So although we did that stuff with the kids it's no different to others doing the same whether you or grandparents.

Helmet for the 3yo!

I did 2 ski seasons when I was younger and did the crèche.

Plenty of 3/4 yo who did ski school in morning and then spent afternoon with us. We did walks, Bum boarding park, arts and crafts, watched some TV! We also did snow ball fights and building snowmen.

Just make sure they have the correct gear (Aldi have loads in atm) and they'll be fine.

Ahh that sounds wonderful! I'd just make sure everyone's going into it knowing it's going to be quite different from a pre-kids ski trip, and also with an at least loosely agreed plan for looking after the DC. In a group that big people can sometimes just expect it to get done between you all without going into the practicalities of what that means beforehand, but that risks resentment/wasted time if expectations don't match up when you're out there. Have a wonderful time - in terms of your own skiing I'm sure it will come back to you fine after a bit of initial pootling around time!

Skiing is like riding a bike, you won’t have forgotten! Maybe start on a couple of easy slopes to get the basics back.

The biggest ‘risk’ in your holiday is how the 3 year old adapts to the ski school ie will they actually go or not.

Im doing similar (albeit no help!) in a couple of months and my main worry is how tired we will all be each day. It can already be pretty exhausting without kids - I suppose we will be drinking less!

Have never been skiing but in laws go regularly and have taken kids since young, now about to turn teens and both are AMAZING at skiing and snowboarding, they do the tougher slopes and help with younger kids. I think it’s great people introduce kids to this kind of thing at a young age!

You'll be fine. I took mine at 4 and 1 and it was great. I take it you have child minding for the 1 year old?

Nearly 4 is the perfect age to start. The first few days might be a bit frustrating if there's a lot of tramping around with ski gear before he can ski himself, but by the end of the week he'll be flying.

They aren't in business any more. I think it was just too tough a market. Shame as they were phenomenal.

We went with our DC every year from ages of 1 and 3. We went with Mark Warner and had them booked into childcare from 9-4:30. Ski school in morning (from age 3 up) and lots of activities with nannies in afternoon.
We did spend a fair amount of time stalking them and watching from afar at first, then once we knew they were fine we went off and enjoyed our skiing. We often came back early and took them out ourselves as well in the afternoon if they wanted to once they were a bit older.
They absolutely do just bounce at that age and just take it all in their stride, so don’t worry about that. They do need a lot of snacks and hot chocolate stops and it has to be fun for them, so if they’d had enough of skiing we had snowball fights or did something else fun instead until they were ready to ski again.

It can be a fantastic holiday, but like everything with young children it is an entirely different entity to pre-children so manage expectations, roll with the flow, don’t expect to get a huge amount of adult ski time in and enjoy all the little moments.

Roll on 19 years and both ours are very good skiers, much better than us, and absolutely love it, and we are just away to go on another family ski holiday with them.

I took mine from tiny, dd2 went cross country skiing strapped to me at 6 weeks old! Mostly we would take it in turns to ski as where we skied had a young kids deal where you could share your lift pass and ski hire (just extra boots needed) and it was drivable from our house (under an hour)

Ski Esprit.....
The Only Way To Go.
Sublime joined up ski childcare which gives parents a proper ski opportunity.

If they are active kids they will have an amazing time. Just get them into ski school each morning with a smile on your face and do some fun stuff in the afternoon with them. They pick it up so quickly and after a few years of ski school they'll be far quicker than you and you have a whole life of wonderful family holidays to look forward to. Getting them into school is the stressful part - boots, gloves, snacks etc but all good from there. You'll have a fab time!

OP we did the same last winter!!

We had a very active boisterous 3.5 yo who wanted to ski (and then didn’t when we got there) and a 6 month old. Family member who didn’t ski stayed home with the baby. I got sooo much skiing on with my husband it was amazing to have some me time. We had a self catered chalet with family. It was great!! Apart from the 3 year old not skiing which was a mild bummer (and especially since he asked to go again the week we got home) but it was a success.

best tips:
we basically did a half day each with 3 year old sledging each eg a grandparent did an afternoon or dad did or I did.

we did a meal plan before we went. Every person did one evening meal each and we took fiddly stuff like spices in our bags and just bought fresh food out there on our day to cook.

did splitwise for purchases. If someone bought our kid an apple juice we paid them back so no one begrudged paying for the children.

looked for a ski school with a great refund policy. If they weren’t feeling it the school refunded all non used days. We got a full refund for the week.

Make sure you have a sledge

ski school is usually just the morning? What will you do with the 3 year old in the afternoons? Perhaps have a think about how the days might look to manage everyone’s expectations.

we took our kids at 3,6. Ski school for the am, meet for lunch. Dad and 6 old would keep skiing. Me and younger would go home and have a rest then meet dad for older sibling for a hot chocolate.

Have you had the conversation with the rest of the party, especially excited DH who can't or won't see how his sling life should ch age with the addition of DC? about how things are going to pan out? A rough time table for who is doing what when. Is everyone's day expected to revolve around your toddler or is it just you who will be making the adjustments ? Will the very hands on child free friends expect to take their turn with childcare or are they going off as usual on a skiing holiday.

Having these conversations in advance might help relieve your very sensible anxieties and get your DH to step up a bit rather than just expect that someone else will sort it all out.

Good luck.

Little kids bounce on the snow - best time to learn. There won't be much snow in future due to climate change though