Tips for taking child skiing

[MrsK]

We are taking our 3yr old to Val Cenis in Frnace in March. Does anyone have any tips for taking a child skiing?. She is booked into a ski-school and we have bought her ski clothes.

Can I anyone share any good advice with me.

Don't expect too much. Young kids can find it very tiring and get rapidly bored by the repetitiveness of learning it and standing around waiting for their turn. Is there a play area at the ski school for those who give up early ?

Make sure you have really good quality clothing etc. Nothing worse than frozen fingers or toes for causing a tantrum or distress, although in March weather should be warmer. Also dress her in layers in case it gets warmer as the lesson progresses. Take snowboots for her to walk too and from lessons in as they find skiboots really hard work, especially if it is icy. Take a separate jacket if you are likely to venture out in case the skiwear gets soaked in the day time and needs to dry out.

If you can, stand out of sight of lessons or go off skiing yourself as sometimes the presence of a parent is more of a hinderance than help - if they fall they expect Mummy to come and pick them up rather than try themselves.

hth

we have found crystal ski holidays the best so far for mixing skiing and childcare and had a good holiday at the Hotel Le Totem in Flaine,France last year, we have a 7 yr old and a 2 yr old.They both loved it and we got to ski all day. If the children are organised, you will get to enjoy it too.
Name all their clothing if using a kids club.
Add string to their gloves/mitts so they don't drop them and take a spare pair.
Give them a snack for ski school, they always have a break on the slopes.
Write down an emergency contact number, name of your accommodation etc and put it in their pocket.
Remember a passport photo, they soon need a lift pass.
Once they get going a helmet is worth hiring, they are not aware of the other skiers.
T-shirts are worth packing as extra layers or just in the accommodation, we have found it very warm in the hotels on evening. All our jumpers came home clean.
If you want any further tips post another message, hope you enjoy it.

It's a tough one isn't it - if you love ski-ing you desperately want/need your kids to love it too, my advice is go with the lowest possible expectations in terms of what your 3 yr old can achieve, and hope to be pleasantly surprised! After all your objective is for her to enjoy it first and foremost, even if 'it' ends up being pulled around by you rather than hurtling down the slopes with the annoyingly advanced little French kids! Good luck and enjoy!