The Snowboard Mom

I’m often asked, why my kids aren’t on a snowboard since I’ve been doing it for so long.
It’s a valid question with a pretty simple answer.

I’ve been snowboarding for over 25 years, and my husband, well he’s been snowboarding since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. We love to snowboard – actually when everyone I know was traveling across Asia or Europe, him and I were spending our vacations out west discovering the best ski hills our country has to offer. When we had kids, we knew we were going to get our kids involved in snowboarding and as soon as our oldest was 2 we had his Burton Riglet ready to go.

We tried to teach him how do it ourselves, and it just didn’t work. We even signed him up for a private lesson, and it was simply too complicated for him to learn. Unlike skiing, there is no equivalent to “pizza” and “french fries” (you know the thing they teach kids when the learn how to ski – point your skis to make a pizza point when you want to stop), the thing when teaching someone how to snowboard.
We also noticed that most hill simply don’t have the programming and tips developed yet like they do for ski school.
When I think back to when I learning how to snowboard, it took me over 5 separate times before I was able to carve front to back. When I learnt how to ski, it took me an afternoon. Inherently, skiing is easier to learn. 

We want our kids to enjoy themselves, and selfishly, we want to be together as a family on the hills. Currently my husband and my oldest (who is now 5.5 years old) enjoy a few runs together after class. It’s a very special time and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

In a few years, if they express an interest in snowboard, we’ll be there to help them learn (and promise not to rush them), but for now, skiing is where it’s at for my little guys.  And they haven’t asked to be on a snowboard yet anyways.

Thanks for reading!