Small-ish children and strangers on the chair

[Kano]

The thing about a kid skiing alone isn't that s/he could wind up kidnapped, though I suppose it COULD happen, it's that s/he could wander off, get disoriented, or otherwise find him or herself unable to find "home."

Not that this situation is limited to little squirts -- FOUR instances in one week up on "our" mountain where search and rescue spent hours finding folk who had gotten off the beaten path and couldn't find their ways back!

Son-in-law gave his son a stern reminder last weekend, when at the end of class, four year old was just kind of wandering away from his teacher on the way back to the "mouse house." Yes, the instructor MAYBE could have been a wee bit more on top of things, but when in a group, learning to keep their adult in sight is an important lesson for kids to learn too -- grown up eyes can only look so many directions at a time!

(SIL got lucky seeing this -- he was on his way to designated kid collection at the time)

Karen in Boise

 

[marge]

I think you did a wonderful thing. I think that father is completely irresponsible by letting his 10-year-old alone on the slopes and NOT expecting him to talk to someone or hang out with some other kids.

Are there any rules for kids being left alone on the slopes? I mean, they can't be left alone at home..... how is it they can be left alone at a ski area? :(

 

[Kiragirl]

SnowHot, you were right on to talk to and ski with the kid. I hope mom and dad feel guilty and selfish right now.

I've talked to/helped out kids quite a few times, whether just chatting on the lift or asking if they were ok when alone... helped one find an instructor when he was lost and SOBBING, the poor little thing, etc. etc.

 

[skibumwannabe]

You should not feel bad at all. I agree that the dad should be skiing with his son.
We have met some very young kids skiing alone under the age of 10 which I think is too young. I always encourage our kids to strike up conversations on the lift and I think a ski resort should be a safe haven for kids. Nothing there but snow, sun and fun!! poo poo on the dad

 

[geargrrl]

uh yeah.

Mom and dad went to the bar for a while while "nick" stayed out on the slopes.

Anytime a parent ABANDONS a kid to got to the bar... imnsho, that's a form of neglect if not child abuse. Some of you might think that's harsh, but it's not. Trust me on this. If you are a kid whose parents leave you to go hang in the, even if there's not the word to vocalize it, you know it's wrong. I'll stop now before I get out an extremely large soapbox.

 

[geargrrl]

Are there any rules for kids being left alone on the slopes? I mean, they can't be left alone at home..... how is it they can be left alone at a ski area? :(

Well, {other than the bar thing} I think it totally depends on one's parenting style, the nature of the kid, the nature of the mountain, the level of experience etc. At our small family hill, the kids were buddy skiing by the time they were 6 or 7 or so. We had rules on where they could go, and that they had to ski with a buddy, and that worked just great for us. But then, we were up there 2-3 times a week so it was comfortable territory.

 

[altagirl]

I think it has to boil down to whether they just dumped the kid alone or what.

I mean - when I was 10, I was in ski club and got dropped off at the mountain to ski with friends. We started with a lesson (until you had "passed" them all) but then for the rest of the night you were on your own. And my parents didn't ski at all, so whether I skied with friends or alone or whatever was up to me - they had no way of knowing. But that's a little different than being on vacation and having your parents abandon you so they can go to a bar...

And I don't know how much of it is changing times. I know when I was that age, I'd regularly ride my bike to the lake maybe a mile or so away and go fishing/swimming/hiking/etc. all on my own (or with friends, but it wasn't adult supervised). And there's the tendency to think it was safer back then, but a kid at my school was kidnapped/raped/murdered at that age. And despite the tragedy and safety talks and all of that, it didn't impact my/my friends freedom to run around alone any - just heightened the "don't ever get in a stranger's car" type of awareness and that was about it. I had a stay at home mom, but she still let us go play in the woods, go to the lake, ski alone, etc. And I think that was very normal at the time - we didn't spend much time indoors as kids. Heh, I was always a bookworm and spent a lot of time hiding in trees or up on the roof of the house reading books. I can only imagine if people saw a little kid (alone) on the roof of a house nowadays too.

 

[RuthB]

What they all said

plus - forget the dad (shame on him for his response when he met up with you guys - FFS what a jerk), I bet you made Nick's day, that's so nice, many wouldn't have bothered - who knows how many times he has been skiing on his own while his dad is otherwise occupied.

Having grown up skiing small club and commercial fields we buddy skied from the week we started skiing at age 6 (with family friends who were competent) and being allowed to ski alone from 9 or 10, it was great. My biggest concern for my six year old son is that with living somewhere where we have to travel to ski, he will have far fewer opportunities to do this, but I do make sure that there are opportunities to ski with his buddies.

I would worry more about kids skiing alone and getting into trouble / lost and no-one noticing rather than being abducted or whatever (which isn't a personal concern at a ski-field).

In fact it bothers me somewhat that there are many children growing up learning to fear people that they don't know and to assume that strangers want to cause harm - when in fact most people do not conform to this stereotype. enough of the soap-box though.

 

[abc]

I can only imagine if people saw a little kid (alone) on the roof of a house nowadays too.

LOL!

Onto my soap-box briefly...

I can see at least 2 things today that causes that:

1) Families had moved to suburban subdivisions where there's no sidewalk and far from school. So kids can't ride their bike to school or to the lake/river any more (or for that matter, trees large enough to sit on and read!)

2) Media is sensationalizing the occasional crime against children, as though that's happening every day in every neighborhood. So any parents still sane enough to allow their kid to play un-supervised were critisized by their friends and neighbors as "irresponsible"!

 

[Rosie Facer]

I feel so much better reading this.

On a couple of occasions last season very young (maybe 6 or 7 y.o.) children approached me to ask for help. One needed a cell phone to call his dad the other had got into a tangle with his snowboard (yes, he was far too young to be snowboarding). I was able to help but was a little surprised at being approached as although a woman I was a lone stranger. I realised with some discomfort that my jacket was the same colours but slightly different pattern as those worn by the instructors. Until now I was a bit concerned that those kids had misidentified me.

Guess I have no excuse to go shopping for a new jacket now!

 

[sibhusky]

1-YOU shouldn't feel bad.
2-Dad and mom shouldn't be in the bar.

End of story. I WOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT MY KID WANDERING AROUND A STRANGE SKI AREA BY HERSELF. We've certainly been separated at races or accidentally, but the rule was "go to ski patrol" (for the lost thing).