Not sure what to do about group holiday

[Pinkjenny]

My dd started school in September, and a number of the children she went to nursery with are in her class. I have become really friendly with the other mums, who I knew reasonably well because of nursery anyway.

One particular Mum and I have been veryfriendly for a while, as our dds used to be good friends. Since they have started school, they seem to have developed a real love hate relationship, and the other Mum and I are still friendly.

We have been invited on a group skiing holiday next February, three other families are going. There are two things that are making me reluctant:

One is that this particular girl can be a bit mean at times, we have just been to a birthday party where I saw her shove dd who came over crying. The other Mum (let's call her Mary) wanted to know why dd was crying, so I told her that her dd had pushed her. She disciplined her dd and she apologised, but then didn't really speak to me for about ten minutes, which was massively obvious as she was sitting next to me.

Now I know little girls can be mean, but I am worried that their friendship will cease completely and wr will have agree twelve months in advance to go on holiday together. Albeit there are two other families as well.

Am I ovethinking it?

The other thing is the holiday itself. I know the d would be in ski school, and my two would be 3yo and almost 6yo. Is skiing appropriate for their age?

Ooh, I'm not sure what to do. I probably sound a bit precious.

[Pinkjenny]

There are loads of mistakes in there, I can't preview it for some reason!

[rookiemater]

I think 3 is a little young for skiing, 6 yr old should be ok dependant on personality. I was hoping that DS might be up for skiing this year or next, he is almost 6, but I don't think he will as he is a real home body and hates being away from us so it wouldn't be fair for him to be in ski school and I ain't going skiing unless I can actually get at least a monrings worth of skiing in.

It's an expensive holiday, so unless you are sure that you would all enjoy it then I would give it a miss.

[AMumInScotland]

Do you do group holidays often? Personally, I don't, as they always sound like a complete nightmare - having other families around all the time would make me very conscious of differences in parenting approaches, and I wouldn't be able to relax and enjoy myself at all. Even if everyone got on wonderfully well in normal times, I'd have reservations, and if this girl and her mum can be "difficult" on an ordinary day, then I wouldn't be signing up for a week in their company!

[juneau]

I'm nervous of group holidays (what if just don't get on when you're all under one roof for a week?), and I don't think I'd want to commit a year ahead. Your DD and this other girl might not even be friends in 13 months time.

And yes, IMO 3 is a bit young for skiing. We just started our 4-year-old DS this winter and I'm pretty sure that if we'd started him a year ago he'd have had a meltdown about all the gear and the cold, etc. Now he's much bolder, stronger, understands he needs to wear his gloves, etc. Having said that, most resorts have a creche at the lift base where young children can be left while their parents ski. We used one in Switzerland last winter and it was very nice - just like a nursery - and there was an English-speaking member of staff even though it wasn't a resort you'd expect to find many English speakers at.