I believe that you decided to open this page because you have somebody who is a very important person in your life. It may be a boy or a girl or both, probably between 4 and 8 years old. You probably finally made the decision that your next vacation you will spend together somewhere in the mountains. And the goal is: to ski together.
If you ask me which is a better place to go, I will say Deer Valley (Utah). I would say so not because I used to work there, but because (and this is really true) it is the best place for a family skiing vacation in USA. You can see for yourself. Deer Valley is the number one resort in the country in grooming, food, and service. What else do you need for the kids? The level of ski instructors is very high, and I want to tell you more: every ski instructor really loves what he or she is doing. I know from personal experience: I loved every single moment that I spent in Deer Valley teaching kids how to ski. When you are watching kids’ eyes shining from the joy of skiing is a ski instructor’s best award. Usually people come for 5 days of vacation.
Kids spend three or four days in the ski school, and one or two days parents are together with their kids. One only has to listen to how kids tell their parents about what they have done in the ski school, and one will really believe that Deer Valley is the best place to go for a family vacation. Well, that is about the ski school, but what exactly you as a parent have to do to put your kid in skis?
First you have to talk about skiing, and your child has to hear it. You can begin talking sometime in the fall, increasing the frequency of conversations the closer to the ski season it gets. So your child will already know that he or she going skiing. He will begin to dream about skiing, and trust me, all his or her friends and their parents will know about it. That will be the mental preparation part. At this point, kids know nothing about skiing, but are mentally ready and want to ski as soon as they can.
Second aspect are the physical conditions. If your kid is in a good health, playing different games outside, like soccer, hockey, or basketball, he or she does not need any special training. Remember that, at this age, every training has to be like a game. No goals in these games, just fun. I’m pretty sure that these games will be more then enough of a physical preparation. The last point is how your kid has to be dressed. Clothing is supposed to be warm and easy to wear. Do not forget gloves and goggles – these two things are very important.
Now everything is prepared, and you are ready to hit ski slopes. If for some reason you decided to teach the kids your self, you have to be a good skier. In this case, you have to forget about your personal skiing and put all your attention on your child. First, on the easiest hill, start by trying to make some runs while carrying the child between your legs. This is very simple: just keep your skis in the wedge and put your kid in front of you. Do not put too much attention on what your kid is doing. He has to have fun. Be prepared that your kid will probably get tired after the first hour. You have to go and relax : drink hot chocolate, watch TV, or draw. Each ski resort has plenty of opportunities for things like that.
Now that your child has already gotten a taste of skiing, you can begin to teach. Do not explain too much. Just play the game. I believe that your kid knows what pizza is and what it looks like. So ask him to show to you a piece of pizza, which means a wedge, where the tips are closer than the tails. Tell him that you want to see a small piece of pizza and then a big one.
Small means a gliding wedge just for sliding down. Big piece means a braking wedge, or stop. Remember your kid has to know what he has to do to stop. As soon as the child begins to put his skis in a pizza on flat terrain, you are good. Now what you have to do is to put on his skis edgie-wedgie.
With this very simple device your teaching life becomes much easier. All that you have to do is connect, with help of edgie-wedgie, the tips of the child’s skis, and when you will go down the hill, adjust his speed with the help of your ski pole.
You are in front of the child, going backwards More than that, you can drive him in the direction you want him to go. After some runs you can try to let him go by himself. That means that you are not driving him with a ski pole. You are still going backwards in front of him. First you are going down the hill telling the child what size piece of pizza you want to see. This way you are controlling the speed of your run.
Play the game green light-red light – going down on green, stopping on red. Use your glove to take their eyes off their ski tips. After that you can make some big radius turns at a low speed. Remember you are always going backwards in front of your kid. After the child feels comfortable during some runs, try to take the edgie-wedgie off and see what happens. I’m pretty sure that if you follow my advice, at the end of the day or the next day, you kid will be able to ski by himself. First runs go slowly, after that the speed will increase. Try to use only green runs. Do not go further. Play with your kid! Try to imagine that you are the same age. He has to have a lot of fun
From these stages, you can use every exercise from the page we are improving. It is up to you what story you want to tell the child to make him happy and to do the exercises that are on that page. The most important thing is that your kid has to be happy and willing to ski. Good luck!!
