9/10 Parents Make this Mistake on Family Ski Trips

After ski instructing for over 10 years I see again and again people (more specifically, parents) forgetting why they go skiing in the first place - for FUN! Let's be honest the vast majority of us are never going to be pro skiers, likely not even close and so why else would you go on a family ski trip if it's not to have fun?!

I see this mistake again and again, year after year. Parents forgetting that they came on a ski trip for fun. Yes, it's expensive - gear, ski instructors, lift tickets, etc but there is way more to a ski trip than just skiing! 

Here is what kids love about skiing and yes, usually in this order:

1. Eating snow
2. Throwing snowballs at their instructor and building snowmen
3. Eating gummy bears on the chairlift and drinking hot chocolate
4. Hanging out with their friends
5. Skiing

All these things are part of skiing and some of my best ski memories as a kid involve at least one of these things (more specifically eating gummy bears on the chairlift with my best friend throwing snowballs at people skiing under us). As they get older and get better at skiing the order may change but they are all still an important part of the ski experience. 

When kids are tired, they're tired and trying to push them to ski more only makes them dislike the sport and build bad memories. I don't know about you but I'd way rather go home a little bit early having had the BEST DAY EVER and wanting more, than stay until the end feeling tired and grumpy because I wasn't having fun anymore (this goes for adults too).

In the end the memories and good times are what count and not the actual "time" spent skiing. So if everyone goes home happy and in love with skiing, regardless of how much time was actually spent skiing, I'd say that's money well spent. So if your kids want to build a snowman, eat some gummy bears or throw snowballs at each other for 10 minutes, just let them because these will be some of their best memories :).