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How old for children to start boarding?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Just wondering if anyone can tell me when children can start learning to board as where we live we have a dry ski slope that only allows children to board from the age of 8, which is quite annoying as me and my husband bit want to board and would like our daughter to board aswell. She has just turned 6 and i don't want to wait two years for her to be able to board.

Any ideas if she can start now?
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Bl0ss0m1, I've seen some littlies that look no older, but often with parents who are already competent boarders keeping a close eye on them. the ski schools in our resort don't take kids as young as 6 in group lessons, though they probably would in a private lesson.

Can she skateboard? A kid who can skateboard well would have a head start on snowboarding. If she's not up for skateboarding she probably couldn't cope with snowboarding either; both can be painful. wink
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Below 8 they can learn but take longer to get the edge control as they often have little strength in their ankles. Hence many slopes will not take them in group lessons as they hold back the older kids. They can learn fine in private lessons or a small group if you dont mind the cost. Also make sure you or the slope has appriopriately sized equipment.
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39 years old,
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6 is fine, just might be hard on the legs with turning, while they work the technique out.

Both mine started at 3, and were confident riders by 6 years old.

Had a hard time finding anyone that would teach them that young, so just did it myself, because I didn't want them to be turned into skiers. Couldn't deal with the shame.

Burton do decent enough board/binding setups for little kids.
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All been said but...

If your teaching, any age (although sourcing boards can be tricky)!
In a school 6-8 years (depending on the school)!

There is a theory that kids balance does not develop good enough untill around 5 years but that seems to have been disproven above and in other examples!
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Quote:

that seems to have been disproven above and in other examples!

kids vary so much though. The fact that one child can write music or read Greek or ride rails on a snowboard at 4 years old doesn't mean that every child can. I've one 6 year old nephew who's got a fantastic golf swing - but some can't reliably catch a big ball, let alone hit a little one, at that age. It's partly practice and opportunity but natural ability comes into it too, as does temperament/fearfulness. That's why I mentioned the skateboard - if this little lass is keen to snowboard, then see how she gets on with a skateboard. If she's not able to get to grips with that, then I'd leave the snowboarding for a bit. Motivation is 90% of the battle - whatever age you learn to snowboard - as you do have to be prepared to cope with a fair amount of pain. Some kids will put up with a lot of pain to do something they want (just look at the little lads on their bikes in the half pipe:sH: ) but not to do something their parents think is a good idea. wink
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hang11, interesting to hear that! I'd previously heard that the children didn't have the strength or muscle power until they were 6 - and so I was hoping to lead my son down the one truth path (i.e., skiing) before his father straps a board to his feet! Wink

Anyone know how old Shaun White was when he first gave it a whirl?
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My oldest daughter is a bit of a princess, youngest is fearless, has a frequent flyer card at the emergency room, and has on more than one occasion had the local do gooders having a close look at the family due to the amount of broken bones she's collected. We keep her well away from sharp objects and the gun collection.

The older one actually took to snowboarding a bit easier than the younger one - I think key to it was to not put any pressure on her, while the younger (nutcase) felt the pressure to keep up with her sister.

Neither of them skate, but the older one has been surfing for a few years too, though not sure how much one helped with the other.

It's best to keep it fun, and not push them too hard because they get worn out quickly. But also important to give them a spoonful of concrete and tell them to harden the f**k up when it all inevitablty ends in tears

My two are lucky because they've both had 50+ days a season since they started snowboarding, and they get a day off school for snowboarding lessons each week in winter, so at the age of 10, the oldest has clocked up more time than a lot of grown ups on a board. Makes me sick, they're both really good riders these days.

Don't know if you have a TV show in the UK called shreducation? A reality TV show about the Burton junior team. That got both my kids amping about snowboarding, and definitely made them realise how big/hard/stupid the little groms can go.
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I'll be strapping Sideways_Jnr to a board as soon as he can stand upright for longer than 30 seconds and his sking mother is looking the other way...
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The vast, vast, vast majority of children do not have the ankle strength necessary to edge a board (even to the point of stopping) until around 6-8.

I think the broader issue here is making the experience fun and a real treat so the child wants to get involved in snowsports. Consequently, as a ski and board instructor, I would hold off on teaching my (non-existent) child to board until perhaps 6--faceplants are painful, and the lack of control when first learning to board can be terrifying. That said, we'll be skiing as early as 3. And when I start to consistently see some solid edging performance in my child's skiing, I'll know my child has developed the ankle strength to hold an edge. At that point I can crack out my snowboard to spark the interest Wink

Ski skills don't necessarily translate to snowboard skills--but it's still sliding and fun out in the snow! and relatively pain-free. Of course, I'm just armchair parenting right now. But personally I wouldn't want to teach boarding to children below 6. And I'd probably not formally teach my children anyway--they'll be enrolled in lessons through the snowsports school. (And at the end of the day, we'll go home to eat pre-shelled lobster in our floating castle in the sky.)
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metaphor_, I agree with you, have taught my relations kids, but not till they have been 6 or 7. Even then , it was more of a go play thing as I reckon it is better to learn to ski first if the parents ski then switch later as I did and then you can use both, depending on the weather.

If the parents only snowboard, then yes carry on with the boarding, but it needs to be real fun or all the falling will put them off. Some kids really seem to take to it but other stop as it hurts more than skiing when you fall most of the time. No matter what age you are the first week on a board hurts. Twisted Evil
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Quote:


Anyone know how old Shaun White was when he first gave it a whirl?



I think he signed for Burton by the time he was 9....

Cool story though - I read this as an editorial in an american snowboard magazine a while back. Re-writing from memory so paraphrasing massively:

"I used to work at a resort doing snowboard days for kids, not instructing, just taking them out on the mountain and riding around with them. There was this one kid who turned up every week. He was the smallest in the group and he was always last. The other kids all took the p*ss out of how slow he was. I'd ride down with him while the rest charged on ahead and we'd meet them at the bottom. One time, he fell over near the top of a run and all the other kids laughed at him and carried on. I turned round to help him up and the kid was just sitting there crying his eyes out. I really lost it, just couldn't cope with it, didn't know what to do for him. So I said "Do you want to beat them down?" he nodded, so I put him on my shoulders and we took a short-cut down a Black Diamond run. I absolutely charged down, fast as I could and we got to the bottom in time for this kid to be standing waiting for the rest when they arrived. The look on his face was just awesome, he was so stoked just to beat them for once."

"No lie, that kid's name was Shaun White."

No idea if it's true or not, but still a cool story.
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Alexandra wrote:
Anyone know how old Shaun White was when he first gave it a whirl?

He starting skiing first, at age 4. Boarding started when he was 6.
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metaphor_, is it really the case that kids are afraid of falling/having a lack of control? i find it's mostly adults who have this fear.
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My eldest girl started age 4 but only dipping her toe in (skied from 3). At 5 I managed to persuade the school to try her in the snowboard beginners class (6 was the lower limit), on the proviso that if she didn't cope she'd have to quit. She coped admirably and now at age 8 is riding reds with confidence and doing 50-50s and front boards on the mini box.

Youngest has just turned 5 and is itching to start on a board, will be teaching her the basics myself over New Year and then looking to beg the school again if she's ready at Easter (should be easier this time as my eldest was one of the most confident riders at 5 when they agreed to take her). I'm worried about the youngest one because she's slightly tapped, I think she's going to be a bit wild on a board but then hey-ho.
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Quote:

is itching to start on a board

that's the key, isn't it? Motivation.
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Love this thread - I have a 1 year old and we are already talking about this (albeit slightly early!)

Showed my mrs the quote above about 'couldn't deal with the shame of being on skis' - she loved it. LOL.

Sounds like board first will be possible after all, and we were thinking it would need to be 3 years of skis
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pam w, without a doubt motivation is key, with my youngest having mum, dad and elder sister on boards is a real motivator. The only thing I worry about is she hasn't developed fear yet, mind you the eldest didn't get it until she had her first big stack Wink I'm really looking forward to her getting on a board, my dream is one day for all 4 of us to do a heli trip, but that's a way down the line yet Smile

flyingjase, from my experiences I would definitely recommend skis first for a couple of years (3-5). When my eldest started at 4 she wasn't quite ready IMO, she didn't have the required strength in her legs. I'm glad she tried it because it was a taster for her but from a purely selfish POV it would have been a PITA to try and get her riding the mountain on that holiday because it would have taken most of my time. On skis she was happy to do reds at that age so we kept her on skis and all rode together. Then I enrolled her in snowboard school the next holiday and she was ready for greens and blues the holiday after, getting on to gentler reds by the end of that week.
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Know it's been posted before in other threads,
but this little lady is always cool...
Unconfirmed reports that Sideways_Jnr took his first steps this week while visiting his grandmother in Spain. Looks like i'll be funding another lift pass soon!
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Quote:

is it really the case that kids are afraid of falling/having a lack of control? i find it's mostly adults who have this fear.

entirely depends on the child. My two eldest grandchildren have reacted very differently to toboganning, despite being introduced to it in the same kind of way, in the same place, with the same adults. One just couldn't wait to get going, and had very little fear and positively enjoyed being "out of control". The other really didn't like it at all, was happy to put Teddy on the toboggan and pull him around, but hated that "slidey" feeling. A few years later (at 6) she took happily to skiing with a private instructor, is well coordinated, etc etc. As a little thing she couldn't have coped.

People who don't have kids, or whose kids are all much the same as each other, tend to think that kids only have whatever they have absorbed from their environment (fear being caught from panicking parents etc). Those of us with kids who are different from each other from 5 minutes old, know different. It's not really possible to decide in advance what a baby or little toddler is going to want to do, or be capable of doing.

Of course a lot does depend on parents too, in particular the amount of their own time they are prepared to devote to their kids, and how pushy they are. I see a lot of parents - and grandparents - with kids on the slopes, spending ages and ages with them, just having fun and gently encouraging them. Way to go (as well as, not instead of, professional lessons). I do still see some people who can barely ski themselves taking kids down red runs though.

With parents now being people who have often grown up boarding rather than skiing we can expect to see more little boarders around, I'd guess. The happiest sight I've seen in several years was a young dad and a little lad who looked about 6, together on their boards on the nursery slope all day, having a ball. Loads of laughs. But it wouldn't suit every kid and dad spent the entire time on the nursery slope. Not everyone is prepared to do that.
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pam w, interesting. i guess your comments would also apply to adults in that case.
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When they stop looking so darned cute and start asking you difficult questions?
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sherlock235, yes, of course some adults are bold and some are not. But in the case of adults there's a whole big set of experiences and stories which have gone to making them the way they are. with little kids, there seems to be some innate and very early differences in their response to things like being out of control and sliding around and wobbly. Even to being swung around - some kids like nothing better than being thrown up in the air by dad and caught. Others don't like it. The timid child can be encouraged and helped to become more adventurous and build on little triumphs, the daft ones need to be physically restrained until they learn a bit of sense, and then taught to look before they leap.

My grand-daughter (the timid one) was physically well coordinated from the off. got the hang of going downstairs backwards, getting off sofas backwards, climbing on and off chairs, practically never, ever, fell and hurt herself. She was scared of the out of controlness of toboganning (maybe because she was used to being in good physical control) but with a patient private instructor did well when she started skiing. Her young brother had no clue; getting off a sofa was a case of standing on the edge, facing outwards, then launching off (same with climbing frames in playgrounds - taking him was a nightmare). He was clumsy and hurt himself often. But didn't seem to care a lot. He adored toboganning - the faster and dafter the better - maybe he was used to the ground suddenly rearing up and socking him in the face. He was keen to get fitted up with little skis and boots (at 3) but definitely didn't want to give it a go. He clomped round in the boots, kicked the snow, then took them off. Such different reactions, and not very predictable, either.
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I should add to all of what I've said that me and mrs hang11 have spent a lot of time on getting the kids snowboarding. If it was a case of a week or two holiday a year for us, I'd have probably chucked them on skis. But I've never skied (or eaten quiche, played golf or had sex with another bloke), and we're lucky as a family to get to spend a fair bit of time up a mountain, so the time spent on teaching and hanging out on the bunny slopes wasn't a big deal.

It's bloody hard work teaching little kids to board, but the payoff for me these days is that I can ride pretty much anywhere on the mountain with my young kids, who can keep up and they have a blast, which is just awesome as a dad. Hiking some lines and giving eachother high fives on a sick pow day with the kids feels great, and I know it will form some special memories for them when they're a bit older.

Not so sure I agree about lack of edge control, both mine had no dramas with putting in some turns and stopping, even from a really young age.
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flyingjase wrote:
Love this thread - I have a 1 year old and we are already talking about this (albeit slightly early!)


No way too early! I took my 4 month old to Snowworld last Saturday and am glad to report that he was far more interested in looking at the racks of skis than the boards! NehNeh

(As others have suggested, we will not teach him ourselves - he will of course go in to proper lessons. This, swimming and driving lessons. )
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Sideways_Jnr enjoyed the Ski & Snowboard show the other week - and enjoyed meeting sherlock235 and Hurtle at the SnowHeads stand and helped Admin ensure his nose was firmly attached to his face. As he spent most of his time outragously flirting with the girls on any stand we stopped at, he'll spend most of his time chasing chalet maids than either skiing or boarding!
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Richard_Sideways, as evidenced by these pics i forgot to put up in the "london ski show feedback" thread, Sideways_Jnr is a cutie so he'll be easily forgiven!



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Hey folks,

Quick update: Whistler-Blackcomb has started offering snowboard lessons to kids as young as 4 using the Burton learn to ride system. http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/snowschool/kids/3to4/index.htm
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Richard_Sideways, snowHead I'd say he'll have no trouble with the chalet maids!
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My lad (now 7) learned to snowboard when he was 5 1/2, couldn't get him lessons in UK we went for a week in Davos in Switzerland and I contacted the people who train before we booked to see if they would teach him. He picked it with no problem after 1 morning lesson of 3 hours, not saying linked turns were great but he got down nursery slope fast and managed to turn and and control the board really well without hardly any falls. We left it 12 months before we went again but went back to Davos, he was even better and hadn't forgotten a thing. As he was now competent and could link turn etc., etc., he's joined junior club at Snowdome each Saturday and loves it. He's on gas pipe, fun box, kicker ramp and 180's on the quarter pipe, he's so confident and came 2nd in a race, we couldn't believe it. Bottom line if you get the chance get your child out there on a board! Very Happy
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After reading this thread, i cant wait to get my little girl out there! Will be starting her off skiing, anybody got any tips for great resorts for tiny ones?? I liked the look of Tignes Val Claret as you dont have to take little uns on a lift as their little ski area is next to the bottom lift, also it has the free chair running alongside which means her mum can still do a bit without going far.
Any other ideas guys?
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Quote:

As he was now competent and could link turn etc., etc., he's joined junior club at Snowdome each Saturday and loves it. He's on gas pipe, fun box, kicker ramp and 180's on the quarter pipe, he's so confident and came 2nd in a race, we couldn't believe it.

snowHead great to hear. He's obviously a natural though - not all kids will be able to do that, even if given the chance. Got to have the right kind of strength/coordination AND the right temperament. I think one of my 5 grandchildren does, but she's only 2 this weekend, so we've a while to wait!
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Hi all
I heard tignes was tough on the kids
high altitude, tough nursery slopes and cold
Just a thought
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La Tania has a nice nursery area which was why we chose to go there with DD (first when she was 4 then again when she had just turned 5).
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metaphor_ wrote:
The vast, vast, vast majority of children do not have the ankle strength necessary to edge a board (even to the point of stopping) until around 6-8.


On what basis are you making this statement ? Is there a study or some proven physiology about the strength of childrens ankle's ?

I honestly find it hard to believe that ankle strength is a problem as 3 years olds can run round like lunatics, ride bikes and can jump off things the height of their head and their ankle's seem to support them just fine.

I'd argue skiing is tougher on the ankle's because of the lateral pressure you put on them when turning - aren't ankle injuries much less in snowboarding because both ankles are strapped to the same plank and you are actually using your toes and high back to turning rather.

I susupect it's harder to teach kids because of the concept of only having one edge and they are less balanced generally.
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Gazzza, agree, suspect ankle strength wouldn't be the limiting factor in a 3 yr old learning to ride - most likely how able they are to take on-board (no pun) instructions in how to do something.
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i'd say 8 -10 as concept and strength not east..my boy had lessons at 6..did ok but enjoyed skiing more until 12 /13
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my niece's 7 year old son had a few ski lessons on a dry slope, and got a snowboard and boots for Christmas - did well mucking about on snowy fields in Dorset, earlier in the winter.

Half term week they went on a family ski holiday for the first time. He tried skiing first, but had a very unlucky fall on second run down easy green piste, and sustained spiral fracture of tibia. He'd probably have been better starting off with the board. Sad
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Sorry to hear that, Pam Sad Hope he mends soon.
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