Skiing with younger children

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All staying as it is, we are taking DC age 3 and 5 skiing in March. They will be having private lessons (both with same instructor) and I wanted to find out what is a realistic amount they are likely to achieve from 10/12 hrs lessons over the week? Ski school suggested to teach eldest alone for final hour of each lesson if younger one is getting tired.

Any other useful tips for first family ski trip? I have seen other posts regarding clothing and we intend to start looking for base layers and outerwear once half term is over.

It is impossible to say without knowing anything about the children.

What are their motor skills like? How are they coping with strangers/school/nursery? How much more advanced in development is the 5 year old compared with the 3 year old?

You might find that the 3 year old doesn't get further than playing in the snow - but they might just be able to do a snowplough and a few turns on an easy piste. The 5 year old might get it straight away, or might still not get the idea of turning and stopping after a whole week. The reason why the ski school is suggesting a separate hour for the older one is that they are likely to advance far faster than the younger one and will get bored standing around watching the sibling falling over and getting tired much quicker then they are.

My recommendation would be to put the 5 year old into ski school with his/her peers - kids feed off each other and challenge each other. The 3 year old would be better off playing with a parent and trying a set of plastic skis for a day or two before looking at "lessons". The ski schools that I have worked at won't teach 3 year olds unless they already have exceptionally good motor skills - all they offer is ski kindergarten with a mixture of play, sliding, building snow figures etc.

Thank you @Havanananana

3 year old is doing well at nursery, excellent gross and fine motor skills as plays sport, does gymnastics and generally very active - has been placed with group 1 year above age for gymnastics because of ability. Very good with adults in nursery (only started recently) and in other recent classes we have done - particularly if going with older sibling as wants to keep up! Saying that, the 5 year old is definitely more advanced because of age and has more stamina.

Main reason we did not put 5 year old in group (was our original plan) is our chosen ski school has changed their ratio to 10 children to an instructor. Having watched one of these lessons at snowdome for 1.5hrs, each child barely was able to ski and they had 2 instructors between the group. Annoyingly, other small ski schools in the resort are not running lessons for that level for the 5 year old, only for more advanced skiiers who are 6+. We figured worst case scenario is 5 yr old uses most of the instructor time and 3yr old ends up playing with us for most of the time which we don't mind but would obviously love if they came out learning more

OK - that sounds more promising! Particularly if the little one wants to keep up with the older sibling and is able to do so (or at least give it a good try).

If they get a good instructor, ideal conditions and are in the right frame of mind, then they might achieve more than I am giving them the potential to achieve. Just be prepared that the first time they are skiing, the result can be anywhere between just playing around a bit and being able to ski blue runs with confidence - and anything in between - set your expectations accordingly and enjoy being out in the fresh air for a week doing something that all the family can participate in.

Thank you :)

Didn't know what to expect if I am honest! Based on what you've said, if we can ski a basic green run together by end of the week, I think its a big win :)

Skiing with kids is a whole new experience for us, really excited to show them the scenery, play in the snow do a bit of sledging etc (and really hoping they love it as much as we do!)

We have very carefully picked a specific instructor based on lots of reviews, experience with young children and speaking to them lots in advance so I am hoping that makes a difference too.

Seems like you have exactly the right preparation and attitude

My then 5yo spent a day on the nursery slopes then was skiing down the whole mountain from day 2 (had done a few v v short sessions from age 3, but nothing to signify). With an instructor, who knew where to lead to be safe, and because at that age they are very light and can skim over things an adult would have to do something about. After 3 hours each morning still had plenty of energy for skiing with us in the afternoon.

Would strongly recommend a change of gloves for lunch time.

We went in 2019, kids were 6 and 9 so older than yours but picked it up very quickly. However there were only 3 kids to 1 instructor.

We went to Decathlon for loads of our stuff and it's very reasonably priced.

How would your elder ds react if his younger brother progressed faster than him? If he wouldn’t take it personally then fine. Otherwise I’d try to seperate them if possible.

Mine went at those ages, ski nursery they called it rather than private lessons. They had the option of inside, snow play or skiing and both chose to ski all day, the younger is competitive! They could both ski pretty well within the week, better than me!

Thank you all, that gives me a bit of an idea of what they could possibly get to by the end of the week.

Elder wouldn't be delighted if younger progressed faster but I am very dubious whether that would happen given younger is still 3.5. Worst case, we could split the lesson so they both have half each.

Thanks for tips on gloves plus Decathlon, we are planning to go soon