Teaching your children to ski can be quite a task. It’s a cold sport that usually features painful ski boots and sometimes uncomfortable gear, and that’s usually not the most appealing thing for a child. Gerhart “Gert” Told, founder and ski school pioneer at KaiserKinderland in Austria, shared a few tips with skiing legend Ingrid Backstrom to help make teaching children a bit easier.
Gerhart has been skiing for around 78 years, and while he hasn’t quite been teaching kids to ski for that long, he’s got decades of lesson experience under his belt. These tips make plenty of sense and will certainly be incredibly helpful to any parent starting the journey with their children.
Keep it Positive
Rather than asking the children “what hurts?”, “do the boots hurt?”, or “does anything hurt?”, try to keep it positive. Encourage them, tell them they’re doing good, and try to avoid pointing out the negatives of the gear.
Pick a Safe Place to Start
Find an area with plenty of room, a slight downhill, and space for them to stop at the bottom.
Gain Their Trust, Build Up Slowly
Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t work for your child. Work with them to learn what encourages them and keeps them going, and keep in mind that it’s a growing process.
Celebrate Mistakes
Crashing is completely okay, and helping your child to understand that will make learning to ski much easier. Celebrate the falls and the mistakes, tell them they took it like a champion.
Have Fun
Skiing is fun. Don’t make it too serious, don’t get angry when they make mistakes. Cheer them on and have fun with them.