Skiing with a 3 year old

[NWSkiGirl]

I took my 3 year old to her first skiing lesson on Sunday at Mt Hood Meadows!

-I brought gummies for excitement, but it turns out we wouldn't have gotten anywhere at all without them. She also kept talking about eating pizza afterwards
-She alternated between skis taking her skis on and off, because she would get scared
-At the end of the lesson she was gliding on her own, and going uphill with me pushing on her back. She could shuffle her feet

I'm going to rent skis and boots for the season, and we already have the rest of the equipment and we'll get an inexpensive kids pass at our resort. The drive is very long, though!

What's the next step after the lesson? I used to teach beginner skiing to adults and kids, but I've heard it's different with your own kids?

 

[liquidfeet]

Ski backwards in a wedge in front of her. Hold your poles horizontally in front of you, about knee-high. You'll need strong legs, and you'll need to look behind you on every turn to avoid running into other skiers.

Have her ski to your poles, grab them, and stop. Instruct her not to let her skis go between your legs. She'll figure this out fast.

As soon as she grabs your poles, stop. Praise her! Then tell her to let go and start skiing backwards and away again. Allow her to catch up and grab your poles. Stop, tell her to let go, ski again backwards and repeat.

You should always be making turns; do NOT let her experience straight-lining.

Summary: you ski away, she catches you, tell her to let go, you ski away, she catches you, tell her to let go, repeat. You are making turns, and she is making the same turns. You won't have to tell her how to turn; her body will figure this out. Little kids learn to walk with trial and error; they can learn to ski this way too. Your presence in front of her is for safety and for learning to turn, not straight-line.

You also do not need to tell her to ski in a wedge. She will learn to make turns by trial and error as she tries to catch up with you and your poles, with or without using skis in a wedge.

You'll need to show her how to get onto and off the carpet lift if there's one, and that may require teaching her to walk uphill sideways or in a herringbone.

If there is a carpet lift, stand on it with her, with her standing between your skis. Do this at first until she figures out how to stand quietly as the carpet takes her uphill. If there isn't a carpet lift, walk her uphill and ski her down skiing in a backward wedge until you feel OK about taking her up the chairlift that accesses the flattest terrain on the mountain. You will need to hold her body in the air as the two of you dismount the chair. Then do the backwards skiing thing as before. Lots of repetition will teach her to get more precise in her turns. She will get tired in no time, maybe before you do. Hot chocolate when she's tired.

If she sits down and takes her feet out of the boots, those boots are too big. Try to get her in smaller boots that she can't remove.

Once she is good at catching you and letting go, stop letting her catch you. Just ski backwards in a wedge and have her follow you. She will be making turns down the hill and skiing. You'll need to be the leader as long as she's 3 years old and unable to choose to make turns consistently.

Note: do not let her straight-line, ever.

 

[Ms Mia]

I love @liquidfeet 's tips. The littler the kids are, the more intuitive they are about what to do.

I was going to say "there's a whole thread on why we shouldn't teach our own kids" https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/please-don’t-teach-your-own-kids-to-ski.25599/ .....but actually there are some great comments in there about when it works, how it works, as well as when it doesn't and why. I think the advice not to teach our own children applies to older kids. At 3, she is going to love being with you, and she trusts you, so keep having fun with her I reckon.

 

[NWSkiGirl]

Ski backwards in a wedge in front of her. Hold your poles horizontally in front of you, about knee-high. You'll need strong legs, and you'll need to look behind you on every turn to avoid running into other skiers.

Have her ski to your poles, grab them, and stop. Instruct her not to let her skis go between your legs. She'll figure this out fast.

As soon as she grabs your poles, stop. Praise her! Then tell her to let go and start skiing backwards and away again. Allow her to catch up and grab your poles. Stop, tell her to let go, ski again backwards and repeat.

You should always be making turns; do NOT let her experience straight-lining.

Summary: you ski away, she catches you, tell her to let go, you ski away, she catches you, tell her to let go, repeat. You are making turns, and she is making the same turns. You won't have to tell her how to turn; her body will figure this out. Little kids learn to walk with trial and error; they can learn to ski this way too. Your presence in front of her is for safety and for learning to turn, not straight-line.

You also do not need to tell her to ski in a wedge. She will learn to make turns by trial and error as she tries to catch up with you and your poles, with or without using skis in a wedge.

You'll need to show her how to get onto and off the carpet lift if there's one, and that may require teaching her to walk uphill sideways or in a herringbone.

If there is a carpet lift, stand on it with her, with her standing between your skis. Do this at first until she figures out how to stand quietly as the carpet takes her uphill. If there isn't a carpet lift, walk her uphill and ski her down skiing in a backward wedge until you feel OK about taking her up the chairlift that accesses the flattest terrain on the mountain. You will need to hold her body in the air as the two of you dismount the chair. Then do the backwards skiing thing as before. Lots of repetition will teach her to get more precise in her turns. She will get tired in no time, maybe before you do. Hot chocolate when she's tired.

If she sits down and takes her feet out of the boots, those boots are too big. Try to get her in smaller boots that she can't remove.

Once she is good at catching you and letting go, stop letting her catch you. Just ski backwards in a wedge and have her follow you. She will be making turns down the hill and skiing. You'll need to be the leader as long as she's 3 years old and unable to choose to make turns consistently.

Note: do not let her straight-line, ever.

Thanks, lots of great tips here!

 

[NWSkiGirl]

I love @liquidfeet 's tips. The littler the kids are, the more intuitive they are about what to do.

I was going to say "there's a whole thread on why we shouldn't teach our own kids" https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/please-don’t-teach-your-own-kids-to-ski.25599/ .....but actually there are some great comments in there about when it works, how it works, as well as when it doesn't and why. I think the advice not to teach our own children applies to older kids. At 3, she is going to love being with you, and she trusts you, so keep having fun with her I reckon.

Thanks, I'll check that out! Last time she was wondering where the teacher was. I can't afford a lesson every time, so I'll have to make do. She's been okay with me so far, so yes maybe when she's bigger.

 

[Briski]

- lots and lots of carpet time, stay on very easy terrain for safety, fun, and learning
- duck walking is a key skill
- games (red light green light, follow the leader)
-beware of skiing too close to her - I’ve seen several children injured because they were skiing between an adults legs and the adult fell. I love a hula hoop for this ( more fun and versatile than leashes.
- at 3 she may lack the strength and neurological developmental ability to turn in her toes inward and push her legs apart, be patient.

 

[NWSkiGirl]

Ski backwards in a wedge in front of her. Hold your poles horizontally in front of you, about knee-high. You'll need strong legs, and you'll need to look behind you on every turn to avoid running into other skiers.

Have her ski to your poles, grab them, and stop. Instruct her not to let her skis go between your legs. She'll figure this out fast.

As soon as she grabs your poles, stop. Praise her! Then tell her to let go and start skiing backwards and away again. Allow her to catch up and grab your poles. Stop, tell her to let go, ski again backwards and repeat.

You should always be making turns; do NOT let her experience straight-lining.

Summary: you ski away, she catches you, tell her to let go, you ski away, she catches you, tell her to let go, repeat. You are making turns, and she is making the same turns. You won't have to tell her how to turn; her body will figure this out. Little kids learn to walk with trial and error; they can learn to ski this way too. Your presence in front of her is for safety and for learning to turn, not straight-line.

You also do not need to tell her to ski in a wedge. She will learn to make turns by trial and error as she tries to catch up with you and your poles, with or without using skis in a wedge.

You'll need to show her how to get onto and off the carpet lift if there's one, and that may require teaching her to walk uphill sideways or in a herringbone.

If there is a carpet lift, stand on it with her, with her standing between your skis. Do this at first until she figures out how to stand quietly as the carpet takes her uphill. If there isn't a carpet lift, walk her uphill and ski her down skiing in a backward wedge until you feel OK about taking her up the chairlift that accesses the flattest terrain on the mountain. You will need to hold her body in the air as the two of you dismount the chair. Then do the backwards skiing thing as before. Lots of repetition will teach her to get more precise in her turns. She will get tired in no time, maybe before you do. Hot chocolate when she's tired.

If she sits down and takes her feet out of the boots, those boots are too big. Try to get her in smaller boots that she can't remove.

Once she is good at catching you and letting go, stop letting her catch you. Just ski backwards in a wedge and have her follow you. She will be making turns down the hill and skiing. You'll need to be the leader as long as she's 3 years old and unable to choose to make turns consistently.

Note: do not let her straight-line, ever.

Today she took off a couple of times at the top of the magic carpet. I ran alongside her, remembering "Do not let her straight line, ever." :-)

 

[LucieCZ]

You've probably figured this out already since Jan, but for anyone who finds this thread, this is what we did.

Since our kids started a little younger, we opted to leash them first. A lot of people don't believe in leashing, but we felt snow plowing at 1-2 yo was too early for their joints. I've seen hula hoops work too, but they were too fixed in length and we wanted to gradually let them get further away so they had room to turn.

Here's a video with some explanation: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AVJJncJi1/

While leashed, they eventually started turning on their own naturally by shifting their weight. So when we took them off the leash and taught them to snow plow, their natural inclination was not to snow plow. bonus!

Whatever you decide to do, they eventually get it and are so cute doing it!

 

[NWSkiGirl]

You've probably figured this out already since Jan, but for anyone who finds this thread, this is what we did.

Since our kids started a little younger, we opted to leash them first. A lot of people don't believe in leashing, but we felt snow plowing at 1-2 yo was too early for their joints. I've seen hula hoops work too, but they were too fixed in length and we wanted to gradually let them get further away so they had room to turn.

Here's a video with some explanation: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AVJJncJi1/

While leashed, they eventually started turning on their own naturally by shifting their weight. So when we took them off the leash and taught them to snow plow, their natural inclination was not to snow plow. bonus!

Whatever you decide to do, they eventually get it and are so cute doing it!

Thank you! I'll consider that