Aibu to Think that it Will be easy enough to go on a ski holiday with a 5, 7 and 8 year Old, without putting the kids in ski School?

[danishkids]

We Will go on our first ski holiday ever on Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it. But the more I chat with friends/family, the more people are making me nervous. We are 2 adults, my husband and I. I have only ever been on skis for a few hours when I was 16. My husband has skied a few times.

Everyone I talk to tells me that I’m
Crazy and that it’s impossible to teach 3 kids at once. That it will only end up
With irritated children and parents. Am
I crazy to think that it will be fine? Or am
I just having wishful thinking?

Do you have any tips for first time
Skiers? Especially with kids? Any good techniques to help the kids learn fast?

I’m exited about this holiday, but maybe I shouldn’t be?

@danishkids

The resort we are at only has the option of 5 day ski school for the kids, so we cannot just choose a few hours unfortunately.

Regarding if I know how to put on the boots, walk up
The hill etc. yes I have been skiing once before. Otherwise I will research it

You seem like you have absolutely no desire to receive the many many answers that tell you are wrong. I'm not sure why you bothered asking the question.

Best tip I can give you is to go out on foot with the kids to the nursery slopes. Let them try and get the hang on it you can be here on foot to help. Perhaps your husband can ski with them on the nursery slope.

When they have finished you can then have a go.....

Not sure how you will teach them to ski when you can't ski - its a bit like a non driver trying to teach someone to drive!!

We taught all our children to ski without ski school. The difference is that DH is an extremely competent skier and I am mediocrre but not a beginner at all. We started when the eldest was 4 he took her down nursery slopes doing snow plough between his legs and eventually skiing more independently. At this stage I was playing snowballs and towing younger ones around on a little toboggan. Once child 2 was learning to ski the following year, child 1 was competent enough to ski independently under DH's instruction while he had child 2 between his legs. I was still on duty entertaining little ones in the morning and then when younger ones napped in the afternoon I would go out for a little while with child 1. I only paid for an afternoon ski pass for myself in those early years. It paid off and now we can all ski together as a family. It's lovely.

If this isn’t a wind-up, I would worry about you skiing into small children on the training slopes. An adult out of control can pick up quite some speed and if they crash into a child, that child can be seriously hurt.

I was skiing a red slope with my daughter (7 at the time) when a middle aged man skied into her, he was unable to control himself and unable to avoid her. The piste was clear, he just had no control, even if he was going slowly. Luckily, my daughter wasn’t hurt. I think he hurt himself quite badly though and to be honest, I think he deserved it. He was in a slope he wasn’t able to navigate and if my daughter hadn’t had a guardian angel, it would have gone really badly.

This could be you if you pick up speed in a green/blue slope and crash into a three year-old.

You all need ski school by the sounds of it.

I did have a look to see if OP was a regular poster as I thought it must be trolling. Turns out that they are home schoolers which probably goes a long way to explain the aversion to putting the kids in ski school.

If they are home schoolers with presumably no restraints on time, why pick one of the more expensive, crowded weeks?

The poster who said that a private lesson for the group would be virtually as expensive as ski school is correct.

I would love to know how they all get on, but the OP is unlikely to tell us.

It would be exceptionally dangerous.
If you do proceed with this mad plan you are very likely to have your ski passes confiscated as you will be a danger to others on the slope - even the nursery slopes.

Non competent skiers cannot teach non skiers to ski. How would you go about this? Just like a non driver or non swimmer cannot teach someone to drive or swim.

Out of interest how old are your children?

I'm sorry but without ski school this holiday is an utter waste of money and will be miserable for all of you, plus very dangerous.

It simply won't work but you will find that out for yourselves once you arrive.

Dh taught me and both dc to ski (as well as another two members of my family) However, he taught us one by one, and would not have been able to do us all at the same time!

My sister an I were let loose on the slopes without lessons in our teens and we both got very annoying injuries. We were lucky, it could have been much worse.

Do get at least a few privates for the group, or ditch the skiing and do some sledging, racket walking and snowman building with the kids. There is plenty of fun to be had in a ski resort without endangering you all so much.

Wow, the first time we went snowboarding (2 adults & 2 kids 8 & 10) we had all had a full set of beginner lessons in an indoor snowdome and then we booked 4 private family afternoon sessions as well.
By the end of the week the instructor was taking our our 8 year old over the kickers in the park and I was still a total liability on the slopes. Private lessons with the kids & adults separated would have been way better and safer.

Sorry I meant group lessons would have been better

@LentilNameChange

Is there nordic/ cross country skiing at your resort OP? That is flatter, slower, safer and much easier to just have a go at. In a similar position to you, we put our 3, 6 and 10 year olds on cross country skis, without lessons, on the flat valley loop and we all had a blast - the kids can essentially just -'walk' on their skis if that's all they can manage, or you can do some gliding once they get a bit comfortable. You can actually learn a lot from youtube vids for cross country skiing. That's what I'd suggest if you are low on cash. You also don't need to pay for lift tickets (or helmets!) and with the money saved you could get an instructor to give you a whole-family beginner lesson together for cross country skiing. I really think it would be a good option to look into

This is an excellent, positive suggestion.

I hope you have a lovely time OP.

Absolutely bonkers. Please let me know what resort you are going to and what you're all wearing so I can avoid at all costs please.

If we were in your situation and really had no option, this is what I would do.

I wouldn’t ski at all. Dh would take each of the dc (assuming he’s competent enough to teach them) for two hours a day on the nursery slopes while I took care of the other two.

Honestly, I am a home schooler and my dc lasted exactly one morning in ski school, so I’m not a fan of that kind of teaching, but three beginners of different ages, supervised by one person with no experience of teaching is a recipe for disaster.

INSANITY. You cannot teach or even supervise your small children on skis, as a barely beginning skier yourself.

@danishkids

We Will go on our first ski holiday ever on Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it. But the more I chat with friends/family, the more people are making me nervous. We are 2 adults, my husband and I. I have only ever been on skis for a few hours when I was 16. My husband has skied a few times.

Everyone I talk to tells me that I’m
Crazy and that it’s impossible to teach 3 kids at once. That it will only end up
With irritated children and parents. Am
I crazy to think that it will be fine? Or am
I just having wishful thinking?

Do you have any tips for first time
Skiers? Especially with kids? Any good techniques to help the kids learn fast?

I’m exited about this holiday, but maybe I shouldn’t be?

You're mad, sorry but it's true! My DH and ski every year. I had been skiing for 6 years and him for 10 years when we went on our first ski holiday with our eldest (he was 4 at the time). Even with both of us, it was hard work to get him going! We went again when DS1 was 9 and DS2 was 5. Again, even with our experience we found it tricky. Lots of drawbacks:

• if you're not confident, you can't help them. If they fall you need to be confident enough to get them up, retrieve their skis, and sometimes if they have a wobble just get them to the bottom by putting them between your skis.
• you get no fun ski time for the more able skiers, as you can't just head to the top of the red or black run and hope for the best!

Seriously, put them in classes to learn the basics and get some decent ski time in yourselves so that you are better able to take them on next year.

This is insane. It's like saying "I went to a water park once, my DH has got his 20m swimming certificate, I've watched a few YouTube videos on how to do it, is it crazy to think we can teach our kids to swim in the sea by throwing them off a boat?".

You have 2 choices:

1. Find the money to pay for ski school, put it on a credit card.

1. Go and have a lovely snow holiday without skiing. Use the money you save on ski hire and ski passes for other fun activities. Build snowmen, get a plastic sled, take the lift up the mountain to a cafe for hot chocolate, hire snowshoes, go skating, swimming or bowling or whatever the resort has on offer, take a local bus to another resort and wander around the shops or a local attraction (if there any nearby). If you must try skiing, don't leave the nursery slope or try to book a family private lesson. Post where you are going and people might be able to come up with suggestions for things you can do at the resort that aren't skiing.

Just out of interest, OP, which resort are you going to?

Perhaps try taking the three to a snowdome before and see if you are all naturally gifted skiers and how easy it is to teach three at once and the logistics of skiing down with two while one parents stays upslope with one? Then re-evaluate based on experience?

Get a sledge for when things get too heated so at least you can have some fun when it all goes wrong! Talk to the guys in the ski hire shop and ask them to recommend a really quiet gentle slope away from lots of people. Enjoy the snow!

@Zilla1

Perhaps try taking the three to a snowdome before and see if you are all naturally gifted skiers and how easy it is to teach three at once and the logistics of skiing down with two while one parents stays upslope with one? Then re-evaluate based on experience?

The irony is they wouldn't be allowed to at a snowdome without lying and saying they were all experienced skiers.

@Giraffesandbottoms

My top tip is MAKE SURE YOU HAVE INSURANCE. I’m an experienced skier and had an accident early 20s and because I was young and stupid didn’t have insurance. X Ray and MRI cost me 1500€.

There’s a high chance of accident with your plan. Be prepared.

This ☝️. My exH got £15,000 worth of treatment/surgery/repatriation for the cost of a £15 insurance policy.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves spot on but perhaps even that might give the OP a check?

@Zilla1

Perhaps try taking the three to a snowdome before and see if you are all naturally gifted skiers and how easy it is to teach three at once and the logistics of skiing down with two while one parents stays upslope with one? Then re-evaluate based on experience?

You aren't allowed on the slopes at a snow dome if you can't ski. And it's irrelevant as they are going tomorrow.

Book a private lesson for one day for you all? That's all I can really think of, but seriously I just don't think this is possible with children of that age, especially when they outnumber you! You won't even be competent yourself to keep an eye on them, this could be genuinely really dangerous.

Oh op - did neither you nor your husband realise how dangerous this is?!