Help! My child melts down at ski lesson drop off

Does your child have a melt down at every ski lesson drop off? Screaming fits and meltdowns at the start of every ski lesson are guilt producing for parents and exhausting for young skiers. So, let’s explore ways we’ve seen parents avoid the Dreaded Drop-off Demon!

Set expectations before your first ski lesson

Learning a new sport is daunting. Ski lessons are even harder as they are in a new place, with new adults, new gear, and maybe a whole new climate if you’ve traveled a long way. Help your child transition into their ski lesson by setting expectations well before you are dropping off for your first lesson.

Watch a video together on Ski Lessons to avoid meltdown

Brekenridge does a great video series by age on their lessons. Watching a few of these together will help set the stage for your child and start to stoke the excitement — the ultimate anti-meltdown.

Here is another fun, short video-story of 2 brothers in their first ski lessons:

Use emotional Jedi moves

This is where the creativity of parents never ceases to amaze me! These are some of the really effective tools I’ve seen be effective for parents of reluctant young skiers.

1. Fill your love bucket before lessons

Take 5-10 minutes before the hubbub of lessons to cuddle and focus solely on your young child. Fill their bucket with love, attention, and cuddles until all they want is to get out of the car and go ski!

2. Make a video the day / night before about skiing

Arriving to your resort a day early? Consider making a short series of photographs or videos about what will happen the next day, starring your child of course. Take a set of photos of your child presenting where they will get their gear, showing where they will go to ski school, and showing where they will meet you again after lessons. Share it with Grandma to get some nice kudos. All this might sound like overkill, but a stress free (no consequence) dry run through before the day lessons start can be a big help in reducing the likelihood of a drop off meltdown for your young skier.

3. Get all your sadness out together

You can get a lot of mileage out of the trick I’ve seen parents use to get all their sadness out now, before lessons. So, these families lock themselves in the parking lot and moan and cry and yell and gnash their teeth to get all their sadness out before they start heading to lessons. This can get really silly, and ultimately get everyone ready for a positive morning.

Don’t hover at ski lessons

Often the best thing you can do once you have completed drop off is to leave. Go ski by yourself guilt free with the firm belief that your child is having a wonderful time. After 5 minutes of sadness, most kids perk right up from their drop off melt down and are ready to ski!

It is striking how differently kids act around their ho-hum parents than they act with their super cool ski instructors. By removing yourself from the area, you are giving the ski instructor the room to help coach your child into a comfortable learning space. In my experience working with 100s of kids aged 4-5, having a parent nearby as ski lessons start has never been beneficial.

And, if you want to take pictures or video, I recommend waiting at least 45 minutes or so into the lesson before showing up, and optimally, staying out of sight unless invited by the instructor to engage more closely.

Don’t forget to celebrate!

If your child has a great day, or even a not terrible drop off with no melt down’s, don’t forget to celebrate! Here’s a post on Hot Cocoa to help you on that journey:

https://teachyourkidtoski.com/make-perfect-hot-cocoa-for-your-next-kiddo-adventure/

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