have you taken your child skiing?

[dal]

I really want to start going on a yearly ski vacation. As a kid, my family always went skiing for a week in the Winter and those were by far my favorite vacations. My brother was 3 when we first went and I was 7.

So I'm just curious if any of you have taken your kids skiing and how it went. My kids are now 4 and almost 3 but I'm thinking of waiting until they are 5 and 6 or 6 and 7. I don't want to wait too long though b/c I still want them to be fearless when they learn.

[Renrel]

I have not but I have friends whose family has a time share or something in ski country and she told me they start with the lessons around 3 or 4. The first question the instructors asks the kid, as they stand there all bundled up, is "who has to go to the bathroom."

[gf&js]

I think I learned around 2 or 3 - mainly because I was the youngest by 6 years and my parents didn't want to miss out anymore! I don't remember too much about it other than my parents have to "tow" me with their poles on the flat spots. I don't think I ever had lessons though but I would highly recommend it - save yourself some frustation!

I would think you might want to go to a place with childcare though too - I can't imagine a little kid would have the attention span to want to ski for more than an hour or two and lift tickets are pretty spendy, I'd hate to see you spend so much money to get so little skiing in. Most of the major hills have great childcare facilities and then you can sneak out for a little adult skiing too.

My brother was a ski instructor in CO and claims he won't teach my kids until they are 5. But then again - he's not a little kid person.

I love seeing little kids skiing though!

[Niobe]

My BFF learned to ski when she was 3 - little kids apparently do pretty well, maybe because they don't have far to fall?

[IrishEyes]

I know I started skiing young. It is a good time to start, because kids lack the fear that adults do.

I did a quick survey of a few ski schools at mountains in the northeast. They had ski lessons for kids starting at 2 1/2, 3 or 4. So it looks like you could probably find a place for them both to ski.

[BethIrish]

In speaking with friends who have toddlers older than mine - usually aound 3 was the age the mountains would take the kids BUT only if they are potty trained. The big thing was if they were potty trained ;)

We plan on taking DS as early as any of the mountains will allow him to have lessons :) It was also my and my brother's favorite vacations growing up!

[snoopy30]

We usually ski in Steamboat, CO and I think they're ski schools start at around age 3. The little kids totally ski better than me! It's so cute.

We'll be going in February and my DS will a little over 2 at that point and we'll probably put some skis on him and take him to a smaller ski area to try it out. My nephew did that and it worked pretty well.

That said it certainly depends on the kid and of course potty training issues.

[pocket]

I think the elder is old enough for skiing this winter, and the younger might be ready depending on his/her physical development. We learned to ski at 3, but were carried skiing much younger than that. Of course that is totally not safe, and I am sure you can't carry a baby while skiing anymore. That was the 70's. I don't know about the potty training. Plenty of times I have wished for an adult diaper myself just for the 25 minutes it takes to get out of a snowsuit.