Should I book ski lessons for my DS before we go?

[HeadlessLadyBiscuit]

My sisters have always turned up and booked with EdF when we arrive but my DS is not going to be 4 until March and we are going in January and I don't think they will accept him. Is it worth pre-booking with somewhere that will or should we just decide on what seems best on the day? We're going to Les Arcs if that makes a difference. TIA

ESF normally start lessons ie Club Piou Piou / jardin des neiges at the age of 3 years old. It depends on the popularity of the ski school and the time of year whether you need to book in advance, but morning lessons are always more popular and you may only end up with afternoon lessons or none at all. Another consideration is special offers available in advance, where we skied last year, we got 15% off for booking 2 months in advance. Best to email the ski school and ask them for advice.

Cheers natation. I definitely want him to go in the morning so that we can do stuff together in the afternoons so I will get in touch with the school.

Ps check also if you get an ESF discount for staying in particular accommodation, this year we are getting 10% off prices which is handy when you have 4 kids, the price of 6 half days comes down to 110 euro from 122 euro. There might also be a discount for booking more than one person at a time.

In January, you should hopefully be fine though not booking in advance, it is always a bit of a risk if it is first time skiing and you book in advance and then the little one refuses to ski!! It happened to my friend, but she managed to get a refund from ESF. On a very positive note, the 3 - 4 years old groups with ESF are usually on a 8 to 1 ratio, but you might get a better ratio with January being low season.

The temperature may be the biggest hurdle for younger ones in January, I searched for hats which could fit under helmets and cover ears,a scarf or high jumper for the neck, either tights or thermal trousers, thermal top plus a fleece, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of gloves - thin gloves to go under normal ski gloves. If you're lucky, the ski school will have a shelter where the children eat a snack and drink part way through their lessons. If you are even luckier, there my be a child-care facility right next to the ski school where the children can stay for lunch before or after lessons.

They do lunch apparently but I'm not sure if it would be better picking him up and taking him back to the chalet. Yes I'm quite worried about the cold but I have got him a load of really good Swedish cold weather stuff and he has a pair of salopettes and a fairly long coat so two layers over his body. And full body thermals. Good idea about the hat under the helmet - the one I have for him should work if I take the pom pom off :o

Main challenge may well be getting him to put all the clothes on - he quite often says he doesn't need to wear his coat

Muddy puddles do really good balaclavas for wearing under helmets.

Also those warm up packet things are always popular in gloves between the layers.

It will be quite a long day for a 3 yr old. Ds did this a couple of days last season when he was 5.5. He had lunch with his instructor and group.

He was absolutely knackered by the end of the day and he is the sort of child who never gets tired.

Also French instructors are a pretty unsympathetic bunch so I think you need to have a particularly robust child to do all day ski lessons at that age. Ds loved his even though I found him pretty hard work - 'your son is rubbish and will fail his test'. Said to me on the Wednesday and ds did fail on the Friday. Fortunately ds wasn't bothered at all but I was a bit .

I would second the need to have a balaclava for wearing under the helment.

I wouldn't book him a whole day - when we started learning my youngest brother was not quite seven and did a full day, but probably couldn't have coped with it the year before.

If you are going in January, I wouldn't think you need to pre-book. It is vital if you are going in half-term or even the week either side, but apart from that not such a necessity.

Second the recommendation for Muddy Puddles, we got some great thermals and bits for DS before we went last year. He was only 18mo so didn't ski obviously but he loved being out in the snow and going on his sledge :)

Oh gosh no, am not planning on sending him all day long - mornings only. Thanks for all the tips - he has some lovely stuff from Polarn O Pyret and I have many many layers for him. What I have to avoid doing is dressing him up so much he can't move his arms and legs which is the mistake I made when I took him when he was a baby. He looks deeply unimpressed in all the photos :o

That has really made me chuckle.

One year we were reminiscing about past skiing holidays, and laughing because youngest brother always used to be so hot - steam would come off him when you took his hat and gloves off. He got really stroppy, because apparently he couldn't take any of it off himself! My Mum was so intent on him being warm enough, that he was so wrapped he couldn't get his mittens off to be able to remove his hat, or undo his coat or anything. He was still angry 15 years later

I'm sure I will do exactly the same to DS in a few years time!

When the DC used to have lessons (told 'em they could stop the classes when they got the ESF gold flocon so will just do a couple of private lessons going forward) I always booked them in advance, and always regretted it, because when e got there we always found better arrangements available locally.
Morning lesons are more popular, 'cos it just 'feels' right to do it that way round, but actually I would definitely recommend you go for afternoons with little ones as it will be warmer/less icy, and you won't have the stress of getting them ready early in the morning, and avoid the scrum in the ski-locker room.

Yes I was thinking about it being colder in the morning MrsGhoul but my parents are coming too so there will be a certain amount of fitting round them as they will be doing some of the childcare. But that might work well - then everyone gets the afternoons free to ski and we can have lazy mornings :)

I think leaving it till we get there is a good idea rather than tying ourselves down - we are going the first week of Jan and all the state schools will have started so should be relatively quiet.