What is the youngest age it is reasonable to take kids skiing, so that they and you have a great time?

[olala]

We've never been, considering next year - kids are 8,5 and 2 now, So is 9,6 and3 ridiculous. What to do with the 3 year old? will it be unbearable or fun? DH v keen but I'm apprehensive as I fear standing on a slope cheering on eldest and trying not to drop youngest off the edge whilst middle gets ignored as usual! advice please!

We took dd when she was 11months for the first time, obviously she didn't ski but was in a creche. Although I'd pick her up mid afternoon and take her out on a sledge which she liked.

She actually skiied for the first time age 3 and loved it - ski lesson in the morning (lots of shuffling round on skis on the flat mostly, little slopey bits). Then snow club in the afternoon (building snowmen, snowball fights, bum boarding). She loved it.

She was 5 when she went last year and can ski blue runs confidently and I imagne will be skiing reds when we go in Jan.

If you go book them all in for lessons and leave them with the instructors.

I would be interested in responses. We took DS skiing at 2 years old. At this age he was too young to participate in skiing, but played in the snow. We shared childcare between us, but I got the impression that they don't start proper ski school until about 4 (atleast in France) and the younger children are cared for in a creche . DS hated little kickers at 3, so we are not going to take him until he is nearer 5 when we think he will be more in tune with the idea of following a lesson.

my dd went last year aged 3.9 months and skiied (with esprit). loved it. This year we are going wit crystal. Both companies do full day care, with snow club in am and skiing (with english speaking instructors) in the pm.

3 yr old could be a pita unless he/she will happily go into a non-ski kindergarten, possibly non English speaking , for lengthy periods, bearing in mind you elder children will probably go off separately too. Ski lesosn run concurrently so it is unlikely you and dh/dp could share the childcare and do a full skischool each.

Ime nearer 5, earliest, is more realistic as he'll be able to join in skiing rather than slide around and be entertained or cry. Very few skischools take under 4's and even then it is only for a very short session of basic shuffling , sliding if they are lucky and snow play. By that age they are more tolerant of cold and independent.

I think it depends on where you go and what sort of childcare is available, or is there a possibility of taking non skiing grandparents?

3 year olds can be extremely hard work in the snow. Our youngest learnt at 3 but we live here so we could just take him out for an hour or so and then lunch out and back home. When you're on holiday it's very different.

Deb

My partner was a snowboard instructor in Canada, often teaching the youngest class - age 3 was minimum (just a morning class, not all day) and he found they learned very quickly and were very competent by the end of their week's instruction. But I guess that depends if they are enjoying it and willing to learn, although the lessons tend to be structured much more as a series of group games with incidental learning.

I took the kids to Scotland last year - ds1 and dd skied - they were 5 and 3 then, was good fun!

olala I would say go, BUT go with a good compnay that offers ski school and childcare optoins. 3 is young but ski esprit do little classes for 3 and 4 yr olds. TBH they don't do that much but they have fun. Also your 6 and 9 year olds will be in classes leaving you and your dh to ski. Mine then had supervised luncehs and we collected them for a coupleof hours in the pm. This year will are doing the same. We went with Esprit

Agree that you need the childcare and ski school options that crunchie recommneds - but you don't have to go with a company to get them. We always book independently, but go to Canada or the US and have been going since ds3 was only 6 months and the older boys were 3 & 5. Have always just booked what we wanted directly with the resort who are always very helpful.

I would do alot of reading on resorts if I were you. We took DS's last year, then 5 and just 3. They both loved it and our youngest was on skis in the creche from day 1. We did only use creche and ski school for am's, then did our own thing pm's. Sledging, snowmen, snowball fights, parks etc. It worked really well for us and the DC can't wait to go again this year.

and as LizP mentioned, it's not down to the company you travel with, you can do it just as well independently.

Agree with LizP. Sometimes you can (I guess..never done a package thing) get a better deal with a package tour, but I've always thought they take advantage of people and think it's better to cut out the middleman (the tour company) and book directly. (Of course if I was going to somewhere very exotic or something I'd do the tour thing.)

The US and Canadian resorts are very helpful and their websites and travel bureaus will help you select the best resort and lodging for you and the kids. Most resorts have age-specific programs and ski instruction usually begins at 3.

I think the ski instruction is play-focused in the US and Canada, and agree that it can be very formal in some European locations. However, we were impressed with the tiny kids skiing down the mountain in Austria...the same one it took me nearly all day to get down. Ha!

There was a good article in one of the weekend papers which was careful to point out that many adults don't appreciate is that younger chidlren , up about 5 or 6 , can often only manage 2 hours or so on the slopes per day which in turn can impact on how much skiing the adults get. So you need to view it as a family winter holiday rather than a pure skiing holiday or arrange childcare to cover when your kids aren't in lessons.