Children’s Ski Lessons – Tips You Need To Know
With half-term coming up quickly, we asked Raphael – the director of Prosneige Ski School in Val d’Isere to film this installment of SkiBro Quick Tips (along with some help from my son) to give parents a few helpful pointers before their children’s ski lessons.
Even though you may have booked your child’s lessons months ago, there are still a few last minute pointers here that will help ensure the everything goes smoothly once your little one is out on the mountain.
Tip #1 – Pack Your Child’s Pockets with the Essentials
Make sure your tyke is ready to make the most of the mountain by filling their pockets with bits and bobs that could make the difference between a great day and one that’s not so fun.
Pack them off with a pouch of pocket tissues for runny noses, suncream to protect their skin, a snack/treat to prevent them from getting hangry, and your name and phone number on a piece of paper in case your instructor needs to contact you for any reason.
While you’ve got your pen out, it’s not a bad idea to write your child’s name on the labels all of their ski clothing to prevent lost gloves, etc – it’s saved me from having to replace various items on more than one occasion!
Tip #2 – Make Sure They Stay Warm
As the ability to shiver (or sweat) hasn’t fully developed, and they have lower levels of subcutaneous fat, children’s bodies are less able to regulate their internal temperature than adults are. Therefore they’re more easily affected by the cold and more easily prone to problems like hypothermia.
At the same time, if you’ve ever tried to bundle your children up, you know that they often complain that they feel too warm. Studies have proven that children are less sensitive to the feeling of cold, which obviously isn’t great as, in reality, the cold physically affects them more.
So, do what I do – ignore any kicking and screaming and bundle them up well including a couple of layers under their jacket, a neck-warmer and a nice warm beanie.
Tip #3 – Arrive to the lesson meeting point early on the first day
Ski school meeting points can get busy, especially during school holidays. Although the staff are all pros who have tonnes of experience, it’s still a fair bit of work to quickly organise 100 children of different abilities into the correct groups and get them out on the slopes.
Checking your meeting point the night before and arriving a few minutes early (with a full belly, and after a final trip to the loo) eliminates any potential stress and, since you’re on holiday, isn’t that what you’re after?
Tip #4 – Relax and enjoy yourself!
Trust that your children are in good hands! All of the ski schools and independent ski instructors on SkiBro are fully qualified and certified to work with children.
Even though we’d been living in Val d’Isere for a year before our son’s first ski lesson – and I knew his first instructor personally – it was still a bit tough to hand him over and send him off.
Looking back, however, he couldn’t have been in better hands and my husband and I were able to enjoy some time on the slopes to ourselves while Sean Og quickly developed into a good little skier who, a couple of years later, is now able to cruise alongside us on blues and milder red runs!
Spending time together as a family doing what we all love is the best feeling ever and trusting his instructors to show our son the way was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Plus, with all the fun activites and other children to play with, going to ski lessons is his favourite part of half-term and Easter school breaks! (Getting new Lego still wins out at Christmas.)
Hopefully these tips have helped you prepare a bit for your child’s lessons. If you have any questions please feel free to drop me a line in the comments below!
~ Debby 🙂
