Are you going to teach your child how to ski? If there is no ski hill nearby, you can help your child learn how to ski. It may be easier to begin with an adult wearing Yaktrax or snow boots, so that you can easily move around your child and pick her up when she falls down.
The most important skills for skiing, in my book?
Learn how to stop. Please, don’t do what my brother did, yelling at other skiers to scatter as he barreled down the ski hill. Teach your child how to make a “pizza” with her skis, pointing the tips in gently towards each other without crossing them. Practice on very small slopes, gradually getting into steeper hills. If your child doesn’t like going down any sort of a hill, she can use this technique often to move at a slow and steady pace down the hill.
Learn how to go up a moderate slope without sliding back down. This can be just as scary as sliding down a hill too quickly, because you can’t see what you’re sliding into. Use the skis to move sideways up the hill at first, then gradually teach your child how to use poles, body weight, and forward motion to push herself up the hill comfortably.
Teach your child how to fall. Flailing your legs around while they’re attached to skis is a good way to get stuck in a snowbank. Flailing poles around can poke someone else in the eye. After your child knows how to stop, teach her how to slow down, then kneel and fall over gently, dropping over to the side.
As you begin skiing, go to an area that is flat or with a very moderate slope, just so that your child can get the feeling of moving with skis attached. Move the skis backwards and forwards, stretching as you go. Then begin to shuffle forward, moving in longer strides over time. For balance, it can be helpful to start skiing without poles so that your child gets used to using her body to balance rather than leaning on poles.
Have you taught someone to cross country ski? What are your best skiing tips?