Skiing with 2 year old

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work at Whitetail. We drive up from DC on Fridays, and ski two days. Mine are 2.5 and 3.5 years old. I take them myself on the very small beginner hill which is dedicated to learning and very tiny children. It has two magic carpet lifts. They have plenty of equipment for very tiny feet.
Kids can only be out about 1.5 to 2.5 hours before they tell you they are tired or want to lay in the snow. it is great time to bond inside at that point and look at the other skiiers from the lodge.
Whitetail starts the group lessons at 4, but the private lessons start at 5. The Kids Mountain Camp program which combines skiing with daycare starts at 3 also, and they will be closed by April, so that wouldn't work for your situation. The day care option would work while you worked with your older son.

You don't need potty training or bike knowledge to learn to ski. My 3.5 year old which is great riding bikes even uphill but isn't as good at skiing as my 2.5 year old who can only ride a big wheel and always puts on the brakes by accident while trying to pedal the upright bike.

I spoke to another lady/mom on the Velvet Green bunny slope who had a 2.5 year old who was really amazing at skiing and she didn't need to use any restraint equipment or gear (harness or bar) with him. She said her husband was an instructor, so the child had been taught well. My little people are not exactly taught by anything other than what I learned on youtube.

My other friends bring their mother or mother in law to watch the little ones after their 1.5 hour session so they can continue to ski with the older child.

The first few days are mainly for getting accustomed to snow and skiis. I bought the plastic skis and used it with normal ski boots year round in the rainy days on very small hills outside our house. That way they learn to walk with skis year round and the feeling is normal. when they get to the slope, so you can concentrate on the pizza wedge while going down hill. It is surprising how much faster the younger ones learn. Don't listen to people who say that 2 is too young - they probably haven't tried it or possibly they could have an odd non-parent like relationship with their child where the child is boss so learning from the parent isn't natural.

Good luck.

Well, OP's kid is 4 now, so I think she's probably figured it out.