Fatherhood anonymous; an open discussion on being a dad.

[The Reverend Floater]

DNGAF about what other people think.

You're doing great, give that focus to your kids.

^This

My 4 y/o is a psycho. And by psycho, I mean she simply wants to ski as fast as possible and laugh maniacally. Sometimes she skis backwards. At first, I really tried to get her to turn more and progress faster like her sister did, which she fought, leading to unenjoyable sessions with some meltdowns and a frustrated dad. Now I just let her ski the first few runs however she wants before starting to work with her, and we go at her pace. I definitely notice the stares and stink eyes from other parents on the hill which made me self conscious, but she's actually more or less in control--just nuking and laughing. As soon as she crescendos in her enjoyment, we do one more, then call it a day, grabbing some hot coco. Now she absolutely loves skiing, she's making good progress and it's become a lot more enjoyable. And based on her turns and occasional switch session, I actually think she'll be the better skier.



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[Touring_Sedan]

^This

My 4 y/o is a psycho.

Aren't they all psychos at that age?!! The complete lack of self preservation the boy is still exhibiting at age 9 still scares the shit out of me. Luckily the wife is smart enough to throw the helmet in the car for even the most mundane excursions.

[schuss]

The thing I've learned is the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in many fortunate and unfortunate ways.

[bodywhomper]

advice I was given a long time ago: always stop while they still want to go. Much better to have the meltdown over "I want to keep skiing" then a meltdown because they're tired/cold/bored/etc.

This is also true for adults.

My 3 kids ski like their dad taught them and they were only half paying attention. They have a lot of fun, though.

My 13 yo’s have friends with passes to the same hill for the first time. Pretty funny watching them navigate how to ski/ride as a group and stay together. My 18yo was skiing last weekend with a crew of old friends, maybe a dozen kids. Really fun to watch. He also tried my old 204’s (k2 r12’s) for the past few days. He’s a centered skier. Very entertaining watching him try to figure it out, especially in low tide break through crust.

[The Reverend Floater]

Aren't they all psychos at that age?!! The complete lack of self preservation the boy is still exhibiting at age 9 still scares the shit out of me. Luckily the wife is smart enough to throw the helmet in the car for even the most mundane excursions.

Probably. My older daughter wasn't cautious by any means but also didn't straightline shit repeatedly, screaming like a banshee.

Ditto on the helmet. Younger one has a lot of ouchies on a daily basis.

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[Buster Highmen]

Aren't they all psychos at that age?!!

Not mine.

My daughter has been more of a rager while my son has been quiet his whole life. As mentioned, he's on the spectrum.

At age 2 sledding and a couple of ski runs, he'd be at most a quiet giggle, but more generally focused on a stoic command of the dynamics of the turn or snowplow.

[SkiLyft]

Most stoked I’ve ever seen anyone about skiing our current shit fuck.



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[yeahman]

Got the dreaded 4 a.m. phone call from the cops this morning. Daughter, 17, was staying at a friend's overnight. Apparently a couple unwanted boys showed up and wouldn't leave and one of the kids called the cops. Because my daughter is a minor they were calling us to make sure she wasn't a runaway.

Fortunately (and somewhat unbelievably to me on New Years), none of the kids were drinking. Even though she didn't really do anything wrong, we still gave her a little talking to. Part of it's on us for trusting her perhaps too much and not having a clear idea what address she was staying at and who she was with. Never pays to let down your guard too much with teenagers, I learned that the hard way when I was teaching high school.

[bodywhomper]

Glad that had a relatively good outcome!

[lowsparkco]

Great photo SkiLyft.

Yeahman, teenagers are tough. I can understand wanting to know addresses where your kid is sleeping. Nice to hear she wasn’t drinking or at least not enough to get caught (half the battle).

My kid (7 months) gets all goofy for the last hour before bed time. She’s got one tooth and she laughs and squeals with her gummy little smile. Cracks me up. This is from tonight….

https://youtube.com/shorts/qE8f-KkXgcU?feature=shared

[Mr C]

This is awesome!!! Eat it up, it goes fast. Thanks for sharing, made me crack up!

[subtle plague]

Being a ski dad is so exhausting.....
Ski half an hour. Hang out in the kids corner reading books for 2 more..

[basinbeater]

Bit of cousin ice time. (My wife is a masshole)

[Dromond]

My daughter is just over two, small for her age, and was a late walker. Now she has a ton of energy and loves running around, dancing, playing with balls and occasionally walking her strider bike. She is super intrigued by skiing, especially after seeing mom and dad ski. (The pajamas with Santa skiing printed on them really sold it.) Do I get the cheap plastic skis that attach to snow boots for her to enjoy shuffling around on snow? It seems like she may be too small for real skis/boots this winter. She is about first percentile in weight - a real string bean.

[alpinevibes]

My daughter is just over two, small for her age, and was a late walker. Now she has a ton of energy and loves running around, dancing, playing with balls and occasionally walking her strider bike. She is super intrigued by skiing, especially after seeing mom and dad ski. (The pajamas with Santa skiing printed on them really sold it.) Do I get the cheap plastic skis that attach to snow boots for her to enjoy shuffling around on snow? It seems like she may be too small for real skis/boots this winter. She is about first percentile in weight - a real string bean.

Our boys enjoyed shuffling around a bit and skiing down mellow stuff we skinned with those. Not super pricey and a fun way to get them out.

[schuss]

My daughter is just over two, small for her age, and was a late walker. Now she has a ton of energy and loves running around, dancing, playing with balls and occasionally walking her strider bike. She is super intrigued by skiing, especially after seeing mom and dad ski. (The pajamas with Santa skiing printed on them really sold it.) Do I get the cheap plastic skis that attach to snow boots for her to enjoy shuffling around on snow? It seems like she may be too small for real skis/boots this winter. She is about first percentile in weight - a real string bean.

I'd honestly check in with the local shop, as most have seasonal rental programs that aren't too dear and good shops will give an honest take of "is this a waste of time" or not. I think cavorting around on plastic skis is fine for that age as honestly even the kid programs here are mostly just a few runs+lots of hot cocoa before age 5 or so.

[basinbeater]

Back when mine were tiny, we found a pair of real skis with metal edges and plastic boots for like $30 used. At 2 mine were able to stand and do a snowplow with an edgy wedgy. Could ski backwards and catch him/her. We also used a harness to control speed when we moved off the magic carpet.

[The Reverend Floater]

My daughter is just over two, small for her age, and was a late walker. Now she has a ton of energy and loves running around, dancing, playing with balls and occasionally walking her strider bike. She is super intrigued by skiing, especially after seeing mom and dad ski. (The pajamas with Santa skiing printed on them really sold it.) Do I get the cheap plastic skis that attach to snow boots for her to enjoy shuffling around on snow? It seems like she may be too small for real skis/boots this winter. She is about first percentile in weight - a real string bean.

Ice skates.

Best thing we did for our oldest was getting her into skating, then hockey. At two she had pads and loved it. This translated into a much faster skiing curve.

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[californiagrown]

My $0.02 as someone with a boy in a very similar situation (age, size, etc) is to focus on fun and let their curiosity set the pace. Have skis on hand ready to go (literally on hand) so the moment she shows interest you can slap them on and take advantage of her positive interest... but really just mostly focus on having fun in the snow however that presents itself- sledding, playing dolls/trucks in the snow, throwing snowballs, or shuffling around on skis. My wife seems to be a little caught up in the social media game of wanting to get footy of junior on skis at age 2, but they really cannot do much at that age, and as you saw with your girl, just because they walk/ski a few months or a year or two "late" doesnt really have a bearing on how well they will ski, or how much they will enjoy skiing by the time they are 5 and have the strength and coordination to actually ski.

Maybe its selfish, but id rather my 2yr old, and myself enjoy snow time for the next couple years instead of focusing on learning skills. We arent going to be skiing fun terrain regardless so id rather just have fun with him and minimize tantrums for now. Plenty of time for him to improve and learn to ski well in the coming years.

My boy likes to emulate me, so i try to have skis on my feet as much as possible when we are playing in the snow. It worked with biking- we used the Shotgun Pro to ride the trails by my house to a playground probably 100 times over this past spring/summer/fall, and he just got a strider and is already loving to putz around on those same local trails for a couple minutes at a time.

[Boissal]

Latest child abuse moment:



Little miss got really fussy the last 5 minutes of the climb, she had to be changed. 4:30pm at 10k, she was giggling the whole time.
Lots of squealing on the way down, she's loving it already. Got yelled at by Ms Boissal for a few aggressive moves on the ski out but those coincided with the loudest squeals so I'm counting those as a win.

[tgapp]

Latest child abuse moment:



Little miss got really fussy the last 5 minutes of the climb, she had to be changed. 4:30pm at 10k, she was giggling the whole time.
Lots of squealing on the way down, she's loving it already. Got yelled at by Ms Boissal for a few aggressive moves on the ski out but those coincided with the loudest squeals so I'm counting those as a win.

omg this is amazing

how, uh, does this work? baby backpack? where do you put avy safety gear?

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[californiagrown]

omg this is amazing

how, uh, does this work? baby backpack? where do you put avy safety gear?

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Most people use normal baby hiking backpack. And meadow skipping/resort laps are the name of the game.

IMO, you might need to have CPS called on you if your are taking a <1yr old into/under avy terrain where gear is wanted or needed. I wont be the one to call, but that would be some next level DGAF bout your baby's safety shit.

[Boissal]

omg this is amazing
how, uh, does this work? baby backpack? where do you put avy safety gear?

Most people use normal baby hiking backpack. And meadow skipping/resort laps are the name of the game.
IMO, you might need to have CPS called on you if your are taking a <1yr old into avy terrain where gear is wanted or needed.

Kelty kid carrier. It carries really well and skis OK although the change in weight distribution is a bit of a shocker. She ends up sitting quite high and as a result I have to ski in a mild squat and way more front seat than I like. Takes a bit of getting used to and is definitely not conducive to getting rad, even if she's well strapped in there. I'm actually more gripped skinning up, any sidehilling or slippery skintrack becomes a serious ordeal. Eating shit is absolutely not an option.

Re: avi gear, as CG says I think needing it would be ground for being fired as a dad. Our excursions will be limited to going up the Alta summer road, the Millcreek/Porter road, maybe White Pine or Cardiff after a 2 week dry spell, or in this case Twin Lakes pass which looks pretty much like a groomer the whole way. I might consider getting her up high in the spring when things are completely welded but timing will be tough, it's slow going up and down and managing the cold of the AM vs things heating up later in the day might be too much of a hassle. For now it's mostly about getting her out, looking around at the white stuff, getting used to the cold and the wind in her face, and accepting the fact that her father will be dragging her out of her comfort zone any chance he gets in hopes that she'll repay him later by breaking trail, setting up top ropes, etc...

Edit: before someone asks, the rubber band aren't a cost saving measure. We do have gloves for her, she's wearing them, her arms are just way too short to pop out of the giant down suit. Her mom's part T-Rex with the shortest ape index I've encountered to date, I blame her.
The toes barely come out the bottom, thus the down "booties" which are basically tubes and make her look like she has hooves. It's actually tough getting the outfit right, she overheats more than she gets cold.

[riser4]

omg this is amazing

how, uh, does this work? baby backpack? where do you put avy safety gear?

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Baby goes on top of the airbag. Duh.

[anotherVTskibum]

I used the Osprey Poco a fair bit with the first kid, for low-key laps at the local hill with a more open uphill policy. She also seemed to enjoy little moments of unweighted travel.

My kids have real ski setups but also have the plastic toy skis. I think they're great for goofing around in the yard or even the living room; it's not like there's much concern about the bases.