How to teach the young ones?

[melvin]

Hi all,

My eldest son is turning four this year and I can't wait until we hit the slopes together. Sometimes we watch videos together and he seems to like snowboarding, especially stoked he likes very much

For those of you who have children: How do you teach them? Is it better that they learn how to ski before they should learn how to board (somehow I would not like it). What gear do you use for learning and where do you get it? I suppose only soft gear is available for children.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.
Melvin

[NardaF]

My son learned boarding when he was 7. Before that he skied for a couple of years.

We live in the U.S. Midwest, but I took him to Innsbruck one winter where he insisted he wanted to learn boarding. This was in 1993, and they still taught boarding with those old Burton boards of the early 90s, and plate bindings, and ski boots. My son learned carving down the Olympic downhill run within a week or so. After coming back to the U.S., he donned soft boots and got a freestyle board (like all the other kids), and was NEVER seen on an alpine board again.

I would say that small kids like your son probably learn skiing easier that boarding at first. Learning to board can be frustrating for a little kid because, contrary to skiing, boarding is not a method of transportation (i.e. you can only go downhill, but not on flats like with skis). Thus skiing may be less frustrating and more fun at first. Once he's comfortable with snow and going downhill at speed, you can switch to boarding (say, a year or two?).

But if your son is interested in boarding only, I would let him join a class with kids his age first. I think kids do better without their parents - at least when they are older (4 is still young, and if you are a good teacher, by all means, teach him yourself).

I believe that learning skiing well first teaches discipline and technique much better than a freestyle board 9I mean, you don't wanna put a tiny kid on an alpine board right away, right? They probably don't even have equipment that small).

[NardaF]

...oh yeah...I have a friend (who's a ski patroller on an alpine board - so he's no dummy) who tried to teach his 5-year old daughter ( a very athletic kid) to board (soft gear)...

It required sooooo much patience and forever standing on the hill, and coaxing and cajoling to get the kid moving down the slope (stop, go for an inch or two, fall on your head, get frustated, try to get up, fall on the back of your head, up, another inch down on heel edge, fall, complain, and so on and so forth..)

If you son has skis you can actually move down the hill without much fuss. And he gets more secure with a slope.

Remember, 4 is still very early, and if you wait a year or two to let him ski instead, you might be better off. And he will have better motor coordination by then to easily switch over to boarding.

Only because he thinks that the extremecarving movies are cool, doesn't mean he can actually learn it right away or that he will follow through. (4-year olds are not exactly reliable in what they say at the moment).

The best thing is not to push him too hard -that takes the fun out of it - and follow his own pace. I can only speak from experience: my son started playing ice hockey at the tender age of four, and his father and hockey coaches pushed the kids hard throughout the years. It became work instead of fun and he dropped it at age 15, despite the fact that he was an excellent skater & player.