Aibu to think skiing is not an essential skill!

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My brother & his wife hate skiing but bring the kids once sometimes twice a year as they think it's an essential skill for their children to learn.. aibu to think this is ridiculous & it will never, ever come in useful in adult life!

I think the idea of skiing as a class marker has lessened a good bit.

The most enthusiastic skiers I know are teachers. The defining characteristic is that they're all very sporty,

Are you maybe a bit jealous that his children are learning a skill like skiing and yours aren't?

I broke my thumb the first time I skied so it was the last time. I’m a dentist so having fully functioning hands is essential. DH would have loved to ski but had cruciate ligament damage at 21 which was repaired but failed so very unstable. The thought of paying all that money to find out that his knee wouldn’t hold up put him off.
Friends who have had injuries to date include numerous knee damage including one where another skiers ski sliced through their knee damaging nerves permanently. A broken neck, broken ankles, several, and broken arms and wrists. And pre helmets lots of head injuries. I know a lot of people who ski.

One or two weeks skiing produces a disproportionate number of injuries compared to to a whole season of rugby.
It’s a dangerous sport and definitely not essential.

Skiing is like riding a bike or swimming. So much easier to learn at an earlier age. As an adult, it's scary and takes much longer.

Not everyone will end up going on ski trips, but if you happen to make friends with people who do, you'll be grateful you're not a novice if you want to join them and they're up to the harder pistes.

That’s what we did too - the 4 of us plus a friend of dd1. It worked very well.

It depends what circles you move in and want your children to feel comfortable in.

I consider learning to ski essential for the lives I want my children to be able to lead.

Live on or close to a big snowy mountain... very useful life skill.
Live in Bromley... completely non-essential.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

You want them all to be ski instructors?

@sometimesmovingforwards I want them to be able to take part on skiing holidays with friends / future partners' families if asked.

Marrying up and down will always exist

It's an awful phrase and says a lot about how the user values other people.

Ok thanks for letting me know, but seeing as they’re your kids and not mine I’m pretty relaxed about the whole thing really. 👍

Guess it depends if the kids are called Gideon and Mungo or Jaxon and Mason.

It's reality

We can bring our dc but dh & I have never been & don't have the inclination to learn plus we don't think it's essential our dc know & they have expressed no interest in learning!

🤣

Honestly if we don’t go in 2026 then I think I will have to actually look at something like this!

Certain social circles skiing seems to be 100% compulsory. Not mine but where I work

Confused

what do the kids actually like?

If they enjoy it, it's good parenting. I don't love all the things my kids do, but it's not about me.

If the kids are miserable, then the parents are unreasonable.
If the kids love it, then it's a great holiday. You can have a great time in a ski resort without actually skiing yourself.

Either way, it's none of your business 😂

Skiing is not something I have needed to do so far.

It’s not an essential skill of course, but it comes with some cultural capital - rich/posh/well connected people ski, so if you can ski well it’s another way of inserting yourself in such circles. A bit like riding.

So I know what they mean

She’s making the same cultural capital point I just did

It's nice to have basic skills when the school organises a ski trip, or be able to join in when your friends organise a skiing holiday.

Skiing is no longer a sign of wealth, everybody can go, it's not expensive. WHERE you go is the status symbol.

Unless you live in an igloo