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We went skiing for the first time last year. I had never skied before, so I took adult lessons. My son was 6 at the time, and he’s not very athletic, and he was in a group class for 5 days (classes were maybe 3 hours?). We put my DD in private lessons since she was only 3. My son did fine, gained a lot of confidence, and could ski the blue slopes by the end of the week. My daughter had fun the first day but then was done with it the second day and didn’t ski anymore after that. I think part of it is because she’s super shy and she was by herself with the instructor, so she wasn’t into it at all. I think it would have been better for her if she and my son had been in a class together, but it wasn’t possible because of their age difference (unless we had done private for both).

We went last year when my not-athletic kid was 4. It was very cold so not slippery or fast. He needed a full face mask before he would go outside but after that it was great. He went up the little converter belt and she attached a rubber thing so she could pull him with a stick. It wasn’t “skiing” but he liked it. We go again Next mo th...

We took the kids (almost 4 and 6.5) this last christmas. We just did half day, which was all we could have handled, I think. We stayed on bunny hills and learning areas with them. We didn’t take lessons, just skiied with them between our legs (no poles, just held them up by their arms and kept our skis wide, and went down with them, if that makes sense). It worked fine, they got the feel for it. It was by no means a “proper” ski lesson, but we didn’t have any goals, other than just let them get a sense of what it was all about. They had fun, wanted us to go faster, and have enthusiasm for trying it again and learning to go on their own.

Yes! We just took our (very unathletic) 2.5 year old this weekend and it was a blast and a total success. She went from very scared the first morning to giddy with excitement and going up the beginner chairlift by the afternoon. The second day she was skiing a bit by herself!

We got one of these harnesses: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQUAFNY/ref=twister_B01LQX8BA0?_encoding=UTF8&th=1 That way we could easily hold her as we skied with her between our legs, and it helped to pick her up when she fell. We used the handle the first day, and the second we gave her about 3-4 feet of leash so she was just out by the tips of our skis. We also got her an edgie wedgie (https://www.amazon.com/Ski-Teaching-Products-LLC-Wedgie/dp/B0071NOLCC/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1516073692&sr=1-1&keywords=edge+wedgie) to keep her tips from separating too much.

Other than that, good weather, lots of snacks, and low expectations were key. We stayed out for about an hour at a time and then went in to warm up and eat. I also kept M&Ms in my pocket and offered her one at the end of every run.

One last bit of advice is to ask if the mountain has special discounted tickets for adults who will only use the carpet/beginner lift (if you think you won't ski by yourselves on the rest of the mountain). We actually got to ski for free today by doing that.

Let me know if you have questions!

@PinkElephant: Are you a strong skiier yourself? I actually used to teach downhill skiing to 3-5 year olds and the biggest hurdle we found with the younger ones was that they just didn't have the muscle control to hold a snowplow position. What we did was to ski backwards in a reverse snowplow in front of them while holding their ski tips together, way better for teaching them than just sticking them between your legs or putting them on a leash while you ski down! Once they started to gain the muscle control, we used hula hoops... the instructor would ski backwards on one side and the child would ski forwards holding the other side. By age 5, they were fearless pros who would happily fly down over moguls laughing maniacally...

We chose to put DD in lessons because we wanted her to LOVE this sport. Whistler BC is known for their awesome kid lessons. Though she wasn't particularly athletic at the time, we knew she took to lessons well/learned quickly. We decided to send her to a short indoor 1:1 dry skiing lesson shortly before her first time on the slopes. We took it slow the first year as she was under 5 and didn't want her to get tired and hate it. She looked so beat at the end of the day but she had fun. There was no way she could have done a second day in a row. Then she did a 3 day camp, at barely 6, and it was just right. She was zooming down the super long bunny slope way ahead of us and couldn't wait to check off all of her skills.

For our upcoming ski trip, we booked a 5 day camp for DD because she is so thrilled with skiing. I am a very experienced skiier while DH is a high novice. DH and I are doing 3 day lessons (I don't want to ski alone and am waiting for them to catch up) then we will be snowmobiling and trekking in the village for some fun for 2 days while LO is in lessons! If all goes well, we will all be skiing together next year with no lessons.

My tip is - consider their physical endurance level, the schedule or program reviews of the ski resort and then let the pros handle it.