Teaching my 3 year old to ski

[socaldj1]

My little girl just turned 3 and is learning to ski. She's been on the boat since she was 4 months old and love to watch her brother board. So we bought her a set of training skis. I spent all evening dragging her around in the grass out front. Put a little water down and they just slide around. She getting her balance and learning to trust the handle to hold her up. Next week it's in the pool with her and the skis to learn to float with them. I'm guessing she'll plane out at an idle. Any other tips??

[rmarion]

we used them on our kids also. My youngest was the first to actually get up on them and ski. His older bro's (they were 4,5,7) gave up.
Here's my suggestions
1. DO NOT tie the rope off to the boat. Hold the rope in your hand, and let go when she goes down. Need min 3 people.
2. she'll get up around 5/10 mph, when the boat starts moving she'll be up..
3. Great idea pulling her on the grass.
4. Have her get used to the sitting postion w/ skis & jacket in the pool.
5. When ready, find a quite & private cove.
Enjoy, those are GREAT TIMES.............:D

[BajaMike]

we used them on our kids also. My youngest was the first to actually get up on them and ski. His older bro's (they were 4,5,7) gave up.
Here's my suggestions
1. DO NOT tie the rope off to the boat. Hold the rope in your hand, and let go when she goes down. Need min 3 people.
2. she'll get up around 5/10 mph, when the boat starts moving she'll be up..
3. Great idea pulling her on the grass.
4. Have her get used to the sitting postion w/ skis & jacket in the pool.
5. When ready, find a quite & private cove.
Enjoy, those are GREAT TIMES.............:D
Good advice!! Don't push it on the kids....or they will hate it.

[YeLLowBoaT]

if you can find a cove some where so there is no wind or waves to start from.

[obnoxious001]

We taught my friend's 3 1/2 yr old by pulling her across the swimming pool numerous times,, she thought that was great! Her first attempt in the river (at Parker) I got in the water with her, she got right up, skied 20 minutes until they finally stopped the boat. Then she wanted to know where I was?
Holding the rope is probably a very good idea, I think we did that. The grass thing is cool,, never tried that.
Good luck,, don't push if they don't want to do it.

[Coach]

Here is a thread I started on another site about teaching kids. Some great advice to be found.
http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/1/450892.html?1180027868

[SB]

Get in the water with them.
I towed my kids behind me on a bike, they rode a skateboard.
This product is a POS as designed
http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=GLADIATOR_SKI_SKIMMER&r=view&i=12524&aID=
but we glassed in a piece of wood between the 2 skis to make it one solid rectangle, and the kids LOVED it.
Even the real scaredy cat kids like it cuz they can go 5 mph. And they get used to being towed behind the boat, getting ready for the rope to come around, etc.

[lewiville]

my boy did it when he was 3. kept bugging us the whole weekend, finally told him hold on and shut up. He skied for 45 min the first time.

[RiverOtter]

Get in the water with them.
I towed my kids behind me on a bike, they rode a skateboard.
This product is a POS as designed
http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=GLADIATOR_SKI_SKIMMER&r=view&i=12524&aID=
We used that and it worked great. They soon moved onto Wakeboards. At 3 their legs may not be strong enough to hold the skis together.
Also, as stated above, get in the water with them. My kids were on the boat from birth, swam behind it, had a blast. When they got behind the boat wih the motor running, the ski on, holding the rope, vest creeping up around their neck, they tend to panic a little. "And FTLOG DON'T YELL AT THEM.
Your right, at 3 just put the boat in gear and she'll plane out :D

[Riverkid]

We taught my friend's 3 1/2 yr old by pulling her across the swimming pool numerous times,, she thought that was great! Her first attempt in the river (at Parker) I got in the water with her, she got right up, skied 20 minutes until they finally stopped the boat. Then she wanted to know where I was?
Holding the rope is probably a very good idea, I think we did that. The grass thing is cool,, never tried that.
Good luck,, don't push if they don't want to do it.
We did the same thing. They still want to ski in there all the time...
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=32900&stc=1&d=1181822181

[Troubles No More]

we used them on our kids also. My youngest was the first to actually get up on them and ski. His older bro's (they were 4,5,7) gave up.
Here's my suggestions
1. DO NOT tie the rope off to the boat. Hold the rope in your hand, and let go when she goes down. Need min 3 people.
2. she'll get up around 5/10 mph, when the boat starts moving she'll be up..
3. Great idea pulling her on the grass.
4. Have her get used to the sitting postion w/ skis & jacket in the pool.
5. When ready, find a quite & private cove.
Enjoy, those are GREAT TIMES.............:D
I used the above method to teach a friend kids to ski, I started pulling them across the shoreline as we did not have a pool/grass (we were at Powell). This will work, You just have to make it fun for the kids

[Legal Chemistry]

that's great... start 'em young. I think I was about that age when my parents first took me to Mojave to ski. Ahhhhm, back in the day when we would camp on the water for a week at a time.
Good idea on holding the rope, I never would have thought of that.
I'll always remember: "Arms straight, knees bent, and let the boat pull you up."
Those words are forever programed in my head.

[rmarion]

I'll always remember: "Arms straight, knees bent, and let the boat pull you up."
heres a few quotes you most likey forgot........
JUST F-ING STAND UP M-F ER.......... opps that was after a few tokes and a couple of beers.....my bad..

[EXTRMBT]

Find a sandy cove with alot of running room. My pops used to run along the shore (Cali side accross from site6) pulling me on my trainer skis when I was about 4. It was a blast. Few days later up behind the boat. Hold the rope though in case they go down. Pull on the rope and let the slack out to help with balance. Scared me the first time but you learn how to deal with the situation real fast.:D