Have you ever been thinking what is the right age to go skiing with a child? We have three kids (2, 4 and 13 years) and we have always thought about that question once the kids have been two years old. When should I take my child skiing with me?
I was six years old when my sister took me skiing with her, that was in the early 1980s. I remember how fascinating this new sport was and how extremely enthusiastic I was. I really fell in love with skiing. This might sound funny, but it is true. Now I am over 30 and I have my own kids. When our second son was two years old I almost took him skiing with me. I discussed with people on forums and most of them said it would not be a good idea, while some folks told me to go ahead. I decided to wait another year. Now our youngest child, my daughter, is about two years old. I find myself thinking of this same question again..
So what is the right age to start skiing with children? It depends on few things, but I would say that it is best to wait until your child is over four or five years old. I have seen a couple of mothers posting on forums that their children were 1-1/2 when they started skiing. I must say I would not have enough courage to even try with such little kids. There are few reasons why I think 4-5 is a good age to start skiing with children. Let’s find out these reasons.
Why is 4-5 years a good age for children to start skiing?
As kids grow, they gain body mass and become stronger. When they go skiing, that body mass and strength is needed to avoid falling, in order put on all the clothing, boots and skis, etc. It simply means that child’s body is strong enough for going to the slopes. When kids are 4-5 years old, they have much better motor and social skills than a year before. They need motor skills for learning to ski and social skills to interact with a skiing instructor. Usually skiing instructors ask parents to wait somewhere until the lesson is over, so the kid has to stay together with the instructor. If the children lacks social skills he/she might not be able to concentrate in learning. Instead the child is worried about “loosing” his/her parents.
My personal opinion is that children should not go skiing before they reach the age of 4-5 years. Some kids grow faster than others and are stronger and equipped with better motor skills sooner than others. This means the best age to start skiing should be seen “on a case-by-case basis”, but generally speaking my recommendation would be to wait until they are 4-5 years old.
When you go skiing with your child, be patient. Do not push him/her. Give time and space, let the child learn at his/her own pace. If you push, the result might be that your child starts to hate the sport and then you can forget about skiing with your child for couple of years. Skiing with children might sometimes cause headache but usually I find it fantastic. As a lifelong backcountry skier I need to “switch myself” into “skiing with kids”-mood and then it goes fine. There is no hurry and it must be fun. When your child has fun on the slopes and he/she clearly enjoys it you are in the right direction.
Do you go skiing with your kids? What do you think is a good age to start skiing? Please leave a comment.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
About the Author
Hi…Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts..what a nice Friday
Hi Ben, thanks for stopping by and welcome back. I’m glad you like my posts. There are interesting things coming up soon, so stay tuned. We are going to provide even better content and we will give valuable stuff out for free.
I started my daughter at age 5 – once I saw she was getting daring in sledding, could play outside in snow for hours & was not afraid to fall down & get a face full of snow. It worked out great at that age for us.
In Iceland we say that 2 and 1/2 is the perfect age. Thats when I started and thats when my son started. Couldn´t think of a better age. Of course we only take the childrens slope and only for 1 or 2 hrs at a time. That way they will be more independent on their skiis when they turn 5.
All depends on the coordination and strength of the kid. We started our son at 2 1/2, he was small for his size and people couldn’t believe we put him on the snow. Actually, he was coordinated very early, and could have been on snow even before 2. The ski boots do help to hold the kid up. However, most kids are not ready until 3 or 4.
Perhaps more important is whether the parents [or whoever is taking the toddler skiing] are ready. You need some skill to ski effectively with the kid between your legs or on a strap.
By the way, our emergency doctors slopeside at the mountain [Vermont] do *NOT* recommend a helmet for kids younger than 6. Reason is at the early ages, there is greater risk of a neck injury than a head injury. The helmet simply increases the weight of the head, and increases the risk of a neck injury. Our son did not wear a helmet until 6.
I started skiing with my daughter at 15 months- on a harness and edgie wedgie, for an hour at a time. Now at 5 years old she is a better skier than old mom,technically, although I’m still bigger & can handle harder terrain, crud ,ect…
why do this?
because her dad and I are both ski profesionals, and we just wanted some fun together. (yes, I skied through my pregnancy too).
I started my son just after he turned 3 and my daughter early this season (she turned 3 in February so she was an old 2 when we started). It’s quite a bit of work! But a huge amount of fun and really rewarding. My son, now 6, can ski almost anything at Squaw Valley. He took on the Palisades this weekend and skied it with control and confidence. My daughter, well, it’s more about being together and singing funny songs on the lift.
I posted my tips on teaching the kids over on my site. Thanks Marko for some really interesting posts!
Our twin boys began skiing at age 4 and 10 months, with great success. They were in ski school for two days, then skied with me (Dad) for a day. The progress they made each day was amazing. It would have been a mistake for me to wait another year or two, and I have no regrets about not starting them sooner. Obviously, it is a decision unique to each child. Our sons had played soccer in a league at age three, and their interest and ability at age four was substantially higher/better. They played two other league sports and attended pre-school twice a week before skiing, so they had learned how to listen and follow instructions to an extent. We kept it simple on the slopes, staying on greens and focusing on varying depths of S turns to regulate speed, which they understood. When they said they couldn’t get back up on their own, they found a way when it earned a piece of candy. We took breaks frequently and kept it fun, and it was fun for me to see them enjoy themselves and the sport so much.
We used the Quicksilver lift at Breckenridge, which provided long and largely easy, green-level slopes.
Thank you so much for this post, I grew up in vermont started sking at age 11 and fell in love with it. I now have to boys 3 and 5 and every year so far I think can we go sking. So the younger one is the athletic one, where the older is the creative one. Well the older one likes snow, the younger one does not. What a pickle! So after reading your post, I think I will wait a couple of years.