Video and Hitting the Sports Basement Thursday (1/20/11) to talk about skiing with kids

For folks whose kids have recently taken private lessons, here's a video montage made by my friend, Nat Fay.  Nat's not only a great kids' instructor at Northstar, he's also a video whiz and is trying to teach me the ins and outs of editing software.  This montage has clips from 4 or 5 December and January lessons, and showcases some of the things I've discussed in earlier posts.

Now today, while my friends and fellow instructors are enjoying a hopefully brief period of spring conditions, I'm heading down to San Francisco to meet a bunch of moms from the Golden Gate Mother's Group. I've been invited to offer advice and suggestions on a couple of topics at the Sports Basement at 6:00pm on Thursday evening.  Friends are welcome to stop in, and moms can also check out the mothers' group at the link above.

The first area we'll be talking about is tactical; how best to dress your child for the winter sports environment.  We'll take a hands-on look at helmets, gloves, boots and the rest of the gear with an eye to function over style and a focus on what will keep Jill and Johnny the happiest and safest on the hill.

The second topic is all strategy... how can a parent make exposing a child to skiing or snowboarding as fun and as stress free as possible?  We'll discuss our goals and theirs, safety on crowded bunny hills, group vs private lessons as well as approaches and things to avoid when teaching your child yourself.

As interesting as I find the actual teaching, I think the most valuable discussion will be about ways to maximize the odds of getting from your ski cabin to the slopes with all your kids, all of their gear and the majority of your sanity intact.  Believe it or not, those parents who breeze through the process and aren't fazed by snowy roads, big parking lots, crowded shuttle buses, rental shops, and ticket windows may not really be zen masters.   We'll talk about the things these parents do to arrive nonplussed and leave smiling.

Cheers.