 Poster: A snowHead
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Ok apologies for starting a second thread on La Thuile today but snowheads collective wisdom is always so helpful! So basically my current dilemma is that kids ski school in La Thuile is only 10-12.20 in the morning so that doesn’t leave us with lots of time to ski . So our options are:
1) pick up the kids each day at 12:20 and ski with them. Will this be very restrictive for us in terms of how far we can ski … or is it quite a compact area and easy to come back to the pick up point unless we want to ski over to France?
2) find some one ( a babysitter?) to pick them up for 2-3 days and take them to lunch so we can come back a bit later… how and where would l find such babysitter though? Any recommendations?
3) Let the kids have lunch by themselves in a close by cafe ( they are 10-13 years old), we stay in Planibel… is it safe to do this for a couple of hours once or twice in the week?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Bella2015, at that age I'd be quite happy to let them sort out lunch for themselves in a nearby cafe. I should think they'd feel very grown up. My grand-daughters are that age. They get themselves to and from school on bus/bike and I'm sure they'd prefer to sort out their lunch themselves rather than have a stranger "baby sitting".
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@pam w, yes the older 13 year olds are fine , they also go to school independently. It is the younger ones just turned 10 l am worried about.
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There are 4 kids ( not all mine) in total. Two of them are 13 and two of them are 10
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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With the four of them together I'd not be concerned. Plenty of 10 year olds go to school indepently, after all. For the cost of a few hours nannying they can have an excellent lunch. If you can introduce them to the restaurant beforehand they'll probably get a warm Italian welcome.
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On your first option, it depends what level of skiers the kids are.
More generally I would advocate skiing with them as much as possible. They will only be that age once, and there are very special memories to be created by skiing with them. Frankly I have never really understood the drive to maximise skiing time for the adults at the cost of time spent on the mountain with the children. You are missing out more by not being with them than you ever will miss out on "adult" skiing time.
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@zikomo, l love skiing with kids but really do want to have some opportunity to ski without them too! They can ski ok, although the younger one is still a bit slow but they can be so incredibly annoying so l do sometimes appreciate time away from them- guess it makes me a rubbish parent
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I think it your options depend on how competent the kids are.
La Thuile is fairly compact and it is straightforward enough to get back to the top of the main gondola that comes up from the village (I presume this is where the lessons end, rather than back at the base station meeting point?).
This area is a fairly flat plateau with a few eateries. If the kids are all competent enough to use lifts on their own, they could even practise for a few hours un-chaperoned. Even if ski school ends at the base station, it is simple enough to get the gondola back up. They really can’t get lost.
The only time there may be an issue is if you want to spend the day in France. But, assuming 2 set of skiing parents are involved, you could easily take it in turns as couples. One couple head over one day while the other couple collect the kids, and vice versa.
Or if the budget allows, there is always the option of booking them a private afternoon lesson for a day, leaving all adults free to head over together. Tbh, I’ve always found the snow on the Italian side to be in better condition and have rarely headed into France.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Bella2015, La Thuile is reasonably compact, and it’s easy to get back to the top of the gondola from most of the resort, if your kids are in ski school there, or they having them down at the base of the gondola which changes things a bit, but would enable you to ski all the way down to meet them.
I would do drop off for the first couple of days and meet them after for lunch and ski with them in the afternoon, as the week goes on and hopefully their confidence grows, they might want to have lunch on their own.
You also mention that their not all your kids, will you have other parent that you could share responsibilities with?
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I agree with @zikomo that skiing with kids makes for some great memories, but it's also good for kids to get some independent time - becoming rather rare, these days!! And they'll need a break after their lesson.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Some kids go to secondary school having never been "out and about" under their own steam. I think that's shocking, personally. And some seem to go off to Uni (or on a gap year trip to Thailand) having done precious little out of the shelter of parental over-anxiety.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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If one of the 13 year olds has a mobile with them I’d definitely suggest they head to a cafe, by the time it takes them to de-layer, order and eat, you’ll have til 2pm.
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La Thuile is compact and the bottom of the gondola is close to the Planibel and a few eating options. You’ll know how sensible they are, and if at least a couple are so, I wouldn’t worry too much. An hour or so in a nice warm cafe or similar, shovelling pizza or a panini, they’ll enjoy and feel very grown up, and you can arrange a meet up to ski or go ‘home’.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| @zikomo, l love skiing with kids but really do want to have some opportunity to ski without them too! They can ski ok, although the younger one is still a bit slow but they can be so incredibly annoying so l do sometimes appreciate time away from them- guess it makes me a rubbish parent |
I certainly did not mean to pass any judgement on your parenting, I would never to that!
Just gave my thoughts based on many years of skiing with my 4 children. And I have seen many parents missing out, and coming to regret not making the opportunity to mess around in the mountains with them when they are wee.
All that said for once I agree with PamW, building some independence is a good thing. You should check with the ski school that they are happy that the kids will not be picked up by a responsible adult. I would not allow that unless explicitly agreed in advance (and in my judgement the kid involved is mature enough), and even then some schools simply don't allow it.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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10 and 13, I'd ski with them for the day, I'd ski like a demon for the morning then slower for the afternoon, mind you at that age mine were leaving me behind.
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Poster: A snowHead
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10 and 13, I'd ski with them for the day, I'd ski like a demon for the morning then slower for the afternoon, mind you at that age mine were leaving me behind.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Are you a group of 4 adults and 4 children? Quite an assumption I know.
If so and you are worried about them being unsupervised you could take it in turns to be back to meet them at end of ski school. One adult a day gets a morning with the grown-ups and an afternoon with the kids and the other adults get a full ski day.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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It depends how you feel about them staying alone in a cafe but I would do a mix of everything. On 3-4th day you may feel a need to slow down and they would have more confidence to ski faster, so perhaps that's a good time to ski together. If nanny is an issue you can ask staff at the cafe to keep an eye on them + throw them airtags into pants  . Just make sure kids know what to do if something happens (delay, accident etc).
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I can't imagine why anyone would have any concerns in letting 4 kids that age do their own thing in a convivial ski cafe. Though having said that I'd ensure they had been introduced to "hole in the ground" toilets beforehand. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The 13 year olds I know would be far more freaked by one of those than by having to buy their own pizza. Great cultural experience..
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| pam w wrote: |
| I can't imagine why anyone would have any concerns in letting 4 kids that age do their own thing in a convivial ski cafe. |
I know a few kids I would happily leave them alone in a cafe but with a condition each of them sits in a safe distance, otherwise the staff would be the one unhappy . When I was at about that age left in a similar situation I quickly left my younger sibling because I found her too annoying. There are some risks we need to accept if we let kids look after kids.
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For sure, @snowyc, and I'd not make the older ones " responsible " in any sense for the younger ones. They all need to look out for each other and it's much better if not all siblings. As with any other situation I'd make it clear there were consequences for any nonsense.
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| pam w wrote: |
| ... As with any other situation I'd make it clear there were consequences for any nonsense. |
That's the trouble with some of kids I know, there are either no consequences they would be afraid of or are too impulsive to think about them when a situation escalates. None of them are ASD.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Threats of consequences have to be 100% doable, 100% fair (and 90% legal....) and 100% stuck to. My kids knew that I NEVER made any empty threats. If I said "no" to something in a supermarket they knew there was no point nagging or whining. I never changed my mind, even if I regretted my initial decision. I once said "yes" to a request for a second helping of ice cream. They kept asking, and I decided to keep saying "yes". They remember it as "the day Mum kept saying yes". In the end they stopped before the tub was all gone, feeling slightly sick. 
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Whatever we do kids are kids that's why I try to have some weekend skiing/snowboarding without them or enjoy 2-3hrs while they have lessons. I also try to do something that doesn't require speed like trying some tricks or going offpiste next to the piste.
Another solution is some helmet audio system, letting kids go first and chasing them to the bottom station.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@snowyc, @pam w, l agree with you both… yes , should be ok to leave them alone, but yes there risks involved as while my friends daughters are sensible… my sons on the other hand are not so and the older one has adhd , so indeed is too impulsive to think of any consequences at times . Ironically it is my friends who are more worried about leaving their daughters ( the older one is tall and beautiful and looks older than her age so l am thinking they might be worried about unwanted attention maybe) . I just worry that my two will star fighting with each other- so we might just have to take turns to come back
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Tell them if they behave badly in the days immediately prior you'll pay someone to mind one of them on their own. Alternate days. The ski school can probably advise. As for the tall and beautiful girl, she's gonna have to cope with that 24/7. She's not going to be particularly vulnerable with the other three, in a crowded cafe!
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