@marzNC .... I think it’s fear.
I didn’t learn as a child because my parents were from a tropical climate. This year, when there was a unique opportunity for us to ski as a family and my husband (primary athletic parent) was not available for skiing... I had a few choices when my kids needed to learn.
I could:
1) not have them do it - potentially impairing their ability to hang out with friends when older...we live in a cold climate and skiing is a fun, social activity.
2) suck it up and get better myself so that I could be have fun with them while they did it. (Ding ding ding!!!)
3) send them and avoid it because I was mediocre to start - fear of embarrassment, fear of falling, fear of failing, etc.
I have a friend who is from a flat state and does not ski. For social reasons, her daughter wants to ski ... see reason 1 above. My friend doesn’t like being not good at things, so she is unlikely to go. I get it ... I think it’s just a different mindset than I have. In some ways, it’s a way in which I’m *NOT* uptight... I don’t care if I’m terrible at something, I feel like with work and application, I can probably get better.
Luckily for my friend, several of her friends will be happy to stand in as ski parents, and her husband MAY be into it. But I think she’s pretty normal. Most of us who have taken up new things in middle-adulthood are probably out of the norm...
I do feel strongly, though, that if I’m going to preach to my kids about growth mindset in school, sports, life, but then I don’t model it myself, the words are pretty hollow. And the same fear that parents use to keep themselves off the slopes is the fear that their kids will absorb about new, uncharted territory when they experience it.
Forward and commit, right?