7 Mistakes Every Ski Parent Makes with Their Kids

If you've ever had a ski day fall completely apart and had no idea why, this episode is for you. Jessica Averett, a certified ski instructor with 20 years of experience and mom of five, breaks down the 7 most common mistakes ski parents make when skiing with kids, and exactly what to do differently. Whether you're brand new to family skiing or you've been at it for years, understanding these patterns is the first step to raising kids who genuinely love the mountain.

What You'll Learn

• Why handing your kids off to ski school isn't enough — and the 3-minute conversation after every lesson that will completely change how fast your kids learn when children learning to ski
• The single biggest reason kids freeze up and refuse to ski (hint: it usually starts with moving to harder terrain too fast) and how to teach kids to ski in the right sequence
• Why the best family skiing tips have nothing to do with athleticism — and everything to do with building skills in the right order
• How to read the warning signs your kid is sending before a meltdown hits, so you can adjust before the day falls apart
• Why "winging it" works for a while — and what to do instead so you're always leading your kids with confidence as a ski parent

Resources & Links

Ready to stop guessing and start skiing with a real plan? Jessica's course First Tracks: A Parent's Guide to Teaching Kids to Ski gives you a complete roadmap for what to teach, when to teach it, and how to build real, lasting confidence in your kids on the mountain.

👉 Get it at skiingkid.com

Key Takeaway

"The kids who grow up loving skiing don't have magical parents. They have parents who followed a pattern. And that pattern is something you can learn."

Skiing with Kids is hosted by Jessica Averett, a ski instructor and mom of five who has spent more than 20 years helping kids learn to ski. This podcast helps parents create calmer, happier ski days by focusing on confidence, connection, and simple strategies that actually work with kids on the mountain.  She's the founder of First Tracks: A Parent's Guide to Teaching Kids to Ski, a course that walks parents through everything they need to know to skip overpriced ski school and confidently teach their own kids to ski.

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Free Guide for Ski Parents

Want to avoid the biggest mistakes most parents make when teaching their kids to ski?
 Download the free guide:

The Most Common Mistakes Ski Parents Make (and How to Fix Them)
https://skiiingkids.myflodesk.com/ffy45squub
This quick guide will help you avoid the common ski day meltdowns and create a much smoother experience for your kids on the mountain.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I want you to picture this. You finally get everyone all bundled up. The boots are buckled, the gloves are on, you have everybody's coat zipped up. You step onto the snow thinking, this is it. This is our year that the family becomes a ski family. I want you to picture this. You finally get everybody all bundled up. The boots are buckled, the gloves are on, the coats are zipped. You step onto the snow thinking, this is it. This is the year our family finally becomes a ski family. But somewhere between the parking lot and maybe that second run, something shifts. Okay, your kid stops listening. They start whining. Maybe they just sit on the snow and refuse to move. And you drive home at the end of the day wondering, why was that so hard? Now here's what I need you to know. You're not failing. No one gave you the roadmap for how to teach your kids to ski yet. Welcome to Skiing with Kids, the podcast that helps you raise confident skiers and create ski days your family actually looks forward to. Welcome to Skiing with Kids. I'm your host, Jessica, a ski instructor, mom of five, and someone who's seen just about every ski day meltdown that you can imagine. After 20 years of teaching kids on the mountain, I've learned that great ski days aren't about perfect technique. They're about confidence, connection, and knowing what actually works. And this podcast is where we break it all down. Now here's what I know for sure. The kids who grow up absolutely loving skiing, their parents are not doing anything magical. They're just following a pattern. And today I'm gonna show you part of that pattern, and mostly where most families unknowingly veer off course. So today we're gonna cover the top seven mistakes that I see ski parents make. Now, there are really just two types of ski parents out there. Now, the first one shows up basically just crossing their fingers every day. They're hoping that today goes better than last time, they're reacting to meltdowns all day long, and at the end of the day, they leave wondering why it feels so hard. Now, the second parent, they walk in with a game plan. They know what their kids need to learn next. They can spot when they get overwhelmed, and they end the day with their kids begging to keep skiing and wanting to come back next time. Now, this episode, we're gonna help you move from being that first parent to the second. Now, mistake number one that most parents make is that they think ski school is gonna do all the heavy lifting for you. Guys, I love ski school so much. Obviously, I'm a ski instructor here. And I think that good instructors are worth their weight in gold. But you have to remember that your kid, even in a full-day lesson, is going to spend maybe three and a half to four hours on snow with that instructor during the day. That's it. They're taking breaks, they're having lunch, they're doing get to know your things. They're not doing a whole ton of skiing. But the rest of their day, you guys, that's on you. Okay. You're the one who's on the chairlift with them, taking that little warm-up run before they go to lessons. You're the one deciding where they should go after lessons. You're the one that they're looking to when they're scared or nervous or when they want to celebrate something. Parents, the families who make real progress, they're backing up what the instructor started. What they're doing as a family is reinforcing the skills that kids learned in lessons every single run. I want you to think of this kind of like gardening, okay? Ski school is gonna plant the seed. It is your job to water it and to make sure that it keeps growing. No, when you pick up your kid from ski school, ask their instructor, what did you work on today? What should I reinforce? What skills does my child need extra support on? It's a three to five minute conversation, and it really will change everything about how effective ski school is for your kids. Okay, mistake number two. And actually, I probably should have put this as mistake number one, because this is definitely something that I've seen so many parents do. I've made this mistake, and I think probably every parent has at some point or another. And that is moving to harder terrain with their kids too fast. I've seen it a million times. A kid makes it down a green, and mom and dad think, hey, it's time for a blue next. But then they get on that blue and they freak out. Okay, they totally freeze. But the truth is that fear doesn't come because they're just on a steep slope. It comes because you have put your kid on terrain that they are not ready for. Now, I have parents who come up to me all the time and ask me to help them troubleshoot. They're like, hey, my kid was doing so great. Then suddenly we took them on this blue and they got so scared and they don't want to ski anymore. So I'll ask them some questions. I'm like, okay, how many greens have they skied? Like, well, they've been out twice before, so you know, they've skied a few. Like, can they control their speed? Like, well, you know, they can sort of do the pizza. Like, usually they can stop, sort of. You guys, that is all I need to hear. Because right there, I can see the problem. Okay? The foundation that that child had was not solid enough for the terrain that you were trying to have them ski on. Now, when they hit that steeper pitch or an icy patch on the blue, literally everything fell apart. With kids, you need to remember that their confidence cracks fast. And rebuilding it takes 10 times longer. So here's my rule when I'm out skiing with kids. Now, when your kid can handle a green or even a blue or whatever they're working on, go ski it 20 more times. Okay. If you're working on greens, I want you to go ski greens until you are blue in the face. You're gonna ski the easy greens, you're gonna ski the medium greens, you're gonna ski the hard greens that have, you know, some crud on them. You're gonna ski the greens with some side hits, you're gonna ski the greens where you can go through the trees. You are gonna ski those greens until your kid is bored. Because when they're bored, that means they have mastered all of the things that they need to do on that run. Okay, they've mastered all the skills, they're doing it perfectly, they don't have anything else that they need to work on on that terrain. When you're skiing with kids, slow is fast every time. Okay, mistake number three that I see parents make: showing up without a plan. Like I talked about in the beginning. Most parents show up thinking, let's see how today goes. One day they work on stopping, the next they work on loading and unloading the chairlift. Then they go back to pizza because their kid forgot. There is no thread connecting at all and no sequential order. The best young skiers are not the most athletic. They're the kids whose skills were built in the right order. Now, I want you to think of it like building a house, okay? You're not gonna start with the roof. You're gonna start with the foundation. Now, between the foundation and the roof, it's not just that you're building the walls, right? You know that you are putting in all the plumbing and the electrical, the structural support, the insulation, tons and tons of things that a builder would see that maybe someone isn't going to be aware of on the outside. Now, on skiing, you know, first your kid needs to be comfortable just standing on skis, then walking, walking, then gliding, then stopping, then turning. And each skill builds on the one before, and there are so many tiny little steps that need to be in place before the next one comes. There's a sequence, and when you follow it, everything out on the mountain clicks faster. Now, I'm not saying that you need a rigid plan. You don't need to say, okay, at 9.36, we are going to be working on our wedge turns with more weight on the outside ski. No. What you need to know is today we're gonna work on X. Only X. Once my kid is totally solid with that one thing, we're gonna move on to the next one. Okay, and there needs to be a logical order there. Now, having a simple framework really does change everything. Okay, now mistake number four, ignoring the red flags. You guys, your kids are not gonna come up to you and say, Hey mom, I just want to let you know that I'm feeling overwhelmed and I need some extra support. That never happens, okay? They're gonna say things like, My legs hurt, I need to go to the bathroom five times in an hour, or my goggles are foggy, my hands are cold, I need something to eat. You guys, these are not random complaints. These are signals. Maybe the terrain got too hard. Maybe they actually are tired. Skiing is is exhausting. Maybe their confidence took a hit and they just don't have the words to express that. Now, the parents who prevent meltdowns see these things early. They adjust, they take an actual break, they move to easier terrain, and the one that parents don't want to do because they just invested that money and time, they leave early if they need to. Forcing your kid to push through when they're past their limits, that is a really quick way to create a kid who hates skiing. Learn to read your kid. They are telling you what they need, even if they don't have the language for it. Okay, mistake number five. Assume that your kid is just gonna be the one to get it faster. Every parent, me included, thinks their kid is the exception. Coordinated, fearless, a quick learner, and they probably are. I would say, oh my gosh, my kids are gonna pick this up so much faster because their mom's a ski instructor, because they have older siblings that they're trying to keep up with, because they're naturally really adventurous. You guys, I've seen athletic kids flying down greens at four, and then they plateau hard by seven. They're nervous, they don't want to try anything new. Now, why? It's because they skipped steps. They rushed the foundation because on the outside it looked like they were ready, okay? Being able to do something once or twice or even three times is not the same as being confident doing it. Real progress in skiing isn't about speed, it is about sequence. I'm gonna just say this until I'm blue in the face, you guys, but the sequence really, really matters. Think of it like building that house, okay? The builder's gonna know there's a hundred steps that have to go into it. The same is true with skiing. When you follow the right sequence, you're raising a kid who trusts themselves, who can handle challenges, who wants to push themselves because they know that they can. And you guys, this translates over to every other aspect of their life. Don't rush it. Okay, mistake number six that ski parents accidentally make is they let fear sit too long. Maybe your kid had a rough wal a rough run. They felt really weird, they panicked. Um, you think, you know what, kids are resilient. They're gonna bounce back. The next day you'll be better. But what you have to know is that fear in young kids snowballs really quickly. One scary run is gonna become in their head, blue runs are scary. Which becomes skiing is scary, which becomes, I don't like skiing. And this happens in a kid's head so fast. And undoing that can literally take months. Now, the best ski parents out there are rebuilding confidence right away. They go back to easy terrain. Something their kid can like absolutely crush, and they're gonna celebrate them like crazy. They're gonna make it fun before their kid has a chance to let that fear take root and take over them. Confidence doesn't rebuild itself. You have to be intentional. So if your kid has a scary moment on the mountain, you have to address it before you leave. Even if you can't get back on the snow with them, even just talking through it, distracting them a little bit, and helping them see the positive. Okay, mistake number seven that ski parents make is winging it. Now, so many of the things that we've talked about today could fall into this. Because the truth is that you can wing it until you really can't. Maybe things have been going fine. Your kid seems to be figuring it out okay. But then you have a meltdown day that seems to come from nowhere. But you guys, it doesn't come from nowhere. They feel sudden, but they're a result of small gaps building up. Maybe it's a skill that wasn't solid, a step that got skipped, uh a warning sign that you missed when you went on your last run with them. Okay. This doesn't happen because you're a bad ski parent. Obviously, the fact that you're listening to this and you're trying to get better means that you really care. It happens because nobody gave you the roadmap to success. Now, none of these mistakes, including this last one, happen because you don't care. They happen because teaching kids to ski is not instinctual. It is an actual skill, but it's something that you can learn. There's a framework, there is a progression. And you guys, once you see it that way, everything shifts. You stop guessing, you start leading your kids with confidence on the mountain. Now, let's think about what this could look like for you. I want you to imagine this, okay? You're cruising down a blue, the sun's out, snow's perfect, your kids are carving smooth turns right next to you. Literally everyone is having a blast. You didn't have to bribe anyone, you didn't have to deal with meltdowns, just your family doing something you love together. You guys, that future is not just for naturally gifted families or families who live in a ski town. This is something that all of you can achieve when you have a plan to follow. Now, if this episode lit something up in you, this is exactly why I created First Tracks, my course to teach parents how to teach their kids to ski. It has a complete roadmap for what to teach, when to teach it, and how to build that unshakable confidence in your kids. This is how you raise kids who genuinely love the sport. So when you're out there on the mountain, you never have to guess again. You can grab that at the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here, and I'll see you out on the mountain. I want you to picture this. You finally get everybody all bundled up, the boots are buckled, the gloves are on, the coats are zipped, you step onto the snow thinking, this is it. This is the year our family finally becomes a ski family. But somewhere between the parking lot and maybe that second run, something shifts. Okay, your kid stops listening, they start whining. Maybe they just sit on the snow and refuse to move. And you drive home at the end of the day wondering, why was that so hard? Now here's what I need you to know. You're not failing. No one gave you the roadmap for how to teach your kids to ski yet. Welcome to Skiing with Kids, the podcast that helps you raise confident skiers and create ski days your family actually looks forward to. I'm your host, Jessica, and I've been teaching kids to ski for the last 20 years, both as a mom of five and as a certified ski instructor. Now, here's what I know for sure. The kids who grow up absolutely loving skiing, their parents are not doing anything magical, they're just following a pattern. And today I'm gonna show you part of that pattern and mostly where most families unknowingly veer off course. So today we're gonna cover the top seven mistakes that I see ski parents make. Now, there are really just two types of ski parents out there. Now, the first one shows up basically just crossing their fingers every day. They're hoping that today goes better than last time, they're reacting to meltdowns all day long, and at the end of the day, they leave wondering why it feels so hard. Now, the second parent, they walk in with a game plan. They know what their kids need to learn next. They can spot when they get overwhelmed, and they end the day with their kids begging to keep skiing and wanting to come back next time. Now, this episode, we're gonna help you move from being that first parent to the second. Now, mistake number one that most parents make is that they think ski school is gonna do all the heavy lifting for you. Guys, I love ski school so much. Obviously, I'm a ski instructor here. And I think that good instructors are worth their weight in gold. But you have to remember that your kid, even in a full-day lesson, is going to spend maybe three and a half to four hours on snow with that instructor during the day. That's it. They're taking breaks, they're having lunch, they're doing get to know you things. They're not doing a whole ton of skiing. But the rest of their day, you guys, that's on you. Okay. You're the one who's on the chairlift with them, taking that little warm-up run before they go to lessons. You're the one deciding where they should go after lessons. You're the one that they're looking to when they're scared or nervous or when they want to celebrate something. Parents, the families who make real progress, they're backing up what the instructor started. What they're doing as a family is reinforcing the skills that kids learned in lessons every single run. I want you to think of this kind of like gardening, okay? Ski school is gonna plant the seed. It is your job to water it and to make sure that it keeps growing. No, when you pick up your kid from ski school, ask their instructor, what did you work on today? What should I reinforce? What skills does my child need extra support on? It's a three to five minute conversation, and it really will change everything about how effective ski school is for your kids. Okay, mistake number two. And actually, I probably should have put this as mistake number one, because this is definitely something that I've seen so many parents do. I've made this mistake, and I think probably every parent has at some point or another. And that is moving to harder terrain with their kids too fast. I've seen it a million times. A kid makes it down a green, and mom and dad think, hey, it's time for a blue next. But then they get on that blue and they freak out. Okay, they totally freeze. But the truth is that fear doesn't come because they're just on a steep slope. It comes because you have put your kid on terrain that they are not ready for. Now, I have parents who come up to me all the time and ask me to help them troubleshoot. They're like, hey, my kid was doing so great. Then suddenly we took them on this blue and they got so scared and they don't want to ski anymore. So I'll ask them some questions. I'm like, okay, how many greens have they skied? Like, well, they've been out twice before, so you know, they've skied a few. Like, can they control their speed? Like, well, you know, they can sort of do the pizza. Like, usually they can stop, sort of. You guys, that is all I need to hear. Because right there, I can see the problem. Okay? The foundation that that child had was not solid enough for the terrain that you were trying to have them ski on. Now, when they hit that steeper pitch or an icy patch on the blue, literally everything fell apart. With kids, you need to remember that their confidence cracks fast. And rebuilding it takes 10 times longer. So here's my rule when I'm out skiing with kids. Now, when your kid can handle a green or even a blue or whatever they're working on, go ski it 20 more times. Okay? If you're working on greens, I want you to go ski greens until you are blue in the face. You're gonna ski the easy greens, you're gonna ski the medium greens, you're gonna ski the hard greens that have, you know, some crud on them. You're gonna ski the greens with some side hits, you're gonna ski the greens where you can go through the trees. You are gonna ski those greens until your kid is bored. Because when they're bored, that means they have mastered all of the things that they need to do on that run. Okay, they've mastered all the skills, they're doing it perfectly, they don't have anything else that they need to work on on that terrain. When you're skiing with kids, slow is fast every time. Okay, mistake number three that I see parents make showing up without a plan. Like I talked about in the beginning. Most parents show up thinking, let's see how today goes. One day they work on stopping, the next they work on loading and unloading the chairlift. Then they go back to pizza because their kid forgot. There is no thread connecting at all and no sequential order. The best young skiers are not the most athletic. They're the kids whose skills were built in the right order. Now, I want you to think of it like building a house, okay? You're not gonna start with the roof. You're gonna start with the foundation. Now, between the foundation and the roof, it's not just that you're building the walls, right? You know that you are putting in all the plumbing and the electrical, the structural support, the insulation, tons and tons of things that a builder would see that maybe someone isn't going to be aware of on the outside. Now, on skiing, you know, first your kid needs to be comfortable just standing on skis, then walking, walking, then gliding, then stopping, then turning. And each skill builds on the one before, and there are so many tiny little steps that need to be in place before the next one comes. There's a sequence, and when you follow it, everything out on the mountain clicks faster. Now, I'm not saying that you need a rigid plan. You don't need to say, okay, at 9.36, we are going to be working on our wedge turns with more weight on the outside ski. No. What you need to know is today we're gonna work on X. Only X. Once my kid is totally solid with that one thing, we're gonna move on to the next one. Okay, and there needs to be a logical order there. Now, having a simple framework really does change everything. Okay, now mistake number four ignoring the red flags. You guys, your kids are not gonna come up to you and say, Hey mom, I just Want to let you know that I'm feeling overwhelmed and I need some extra support. That never happens. Okay, they're gonna say things like my legs hurt, I need to go to the bathroom five times in an hour, or my goggles are foggy, my hands are cold, I need something to eat. You guys, these are not random complaints, these are signals. Maybe the terrain got too hard. Maybe they actually are tired. Skiing is is exhausting. Maybe their confidence took a hit and they just don't have the words to express that. Now the parents who prevent meltdowns see these things early. They adjust, they take an actual break, they move to easier terrain, and the one that parents don't want to do because they just invested that money and time, they leave early if they need to. Forcing your kid to push through when they're past their limits, that is a really quick way to create a kid who hates skiing. Learn to read your kid. They are telling you what they need, even if they don't have the language for it. Okay, mistake number five. Assume that your kid is just gonna be the one to get it faster. Every parent, me included, thinks their kid is the exception. Coordinated, fearless, a quick learner. And they probably are. I would say, oh my gosh, my kids are gonna pick this up so much faster because their mom's a ski instructor, because they have older siblings that they're trying to keep up with, because they're naturally really adventurous. You guys, I've seen athletic kids flying down greens at four, and then they plateau hard by seven. They're nervous, they don't want to try anything new. Now, why? It's because they skipped steps. They rushed the foundation because on the outside it looked like they were ready, okay? Being able to do something once or twice or even three times is not the same as being confident doing it. Real progress in skiing isn't about speed, it is about sequence. I'm gonna just say this until I'm blue in the face, you guys, but the sequence really, really matters. Think of it like building that house, okay? The builder's gonna know there's a hundred steps that have to go into it. The same is true with skiing. When you follow the right sequence, you're raising a kid who trusts themselves, who can handle challenges, who wants to push themselves because they know that they can. And you guys, this translates over to every other aspect of their life. Don't rush it. Okay, mistake number six that ski parents accidentally make is they let fear sit too long. Maybe your kid had a rough walk, a rough run. They felt really weird, they panicked. Um, you think, you know what? Kids are resilient. They're gonna bounce back. The next day you'll be better. But what you have to know is that fear in young kids snowballs really quickly. One scary run is gonna become in their head, blue runs are scary. Which becomes skiing is scary, which becomes, I don't like skiing. And this happens in a kid's head so fast. And undoing that can literally take months. Now, the best ski parents out there are rebuilding confidence right away. They go back to easy terrain. Something their kid can like absolutely crush, and they're gonna celebrate them like crazy. They're gonna make it fun before their kid has a chance to let that fear take root and take over them. Confidence doesn't rebuild itself. You have to be intentional. So if your kid has a scary moment on the mountain, you have to address it before you leave. Even if you can't get back on the snow with them, even just talking through it, distracting them a little bit, and helping them see the positive. Okay, mistake number seven that ski parents make is winging it. Now, so many of the things that we've talked about today could fall into this because the truth is that you can wing it until you really can't. Maybe things have been going fine. Your kid seems to be figuring it out okay. But then you have a meltdown day that seems to come from nowhere. But you guys, it doesn't come from nowhere. They feel sudden, but their result, a result of small gaps building up. Maybe it's a skill that wasn't solid, a step that got skipped, a warning sign that you missed when you went on your last run with them. Okay. This doesn't happen because you're a bad ski parent. Obviously, the fact that you're listening to this and you're trying to get better means that you really care. It happens because nobody gave you the roadmap to success. Now, none of these mistakes, including this last one, happen because you don't care. They happen because teaching kids to ski is not instinctual. It is an actual skill, but it's something that you can learn. There's a framework, there is a progression. And you guys, once you see it that way, everything shifts. You stop guessing. You start leading your kids with confidence on the mountain. Now, let's think about what this could look like for you. I want you to imagine this, okay? You're cruising down a blue, the sun's out, snow's perfect, your kids are carving smooth turns right next to you. Literally everyone is having a blast. You didn't have to bribe anyone, you didn't have to deal with meltdowns, just your family doing something you love together. You guys, that future is not just for naturally gifted families or families who live in a ski town. This is something that all of you can achieve when you have a plan to follow. Now, if this episode lit something up in you, this is exactly why I created First Tracks, my course to teach parents how to teach their kids to ski. It has a complete roadmap for what to teach, when to teach it, and how to build that unshakable confidence in your kids. This is how you raise kids who genuinely love the sport. So when you're out there on the mountain, you never have to guess again. You can grab that at the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here, and I'll see you out on the mountain.