Signs that your next lesson is going to be a hard one

[Joal]

Teaching 360s I had an 11 year old ask if he should keep his eyes open when he tried. I simply said yes but thought I might be in for it. He did struggle at first but now does beautiful 360s and is working on 720s.

 

[JeffB]

When you post-hole to hip deep 60 yards round trip carrying a 7 year old on your shoulders pre and après a perceived pee emergency.

Additional info: it was 30 yards to any cover, it was my kid, and I tried to talk the instructor out of it because I knew it would really suck. At end of 5 hour private lesson we got on a very crowded day to skip lift lines. Incredible instructor, great guy. And yes, we tipped very well, adding even more for the pee duty.

@Ron can verify the story.

 

[Ron]

When you post-hole to hip deep 60 yards round trip carrying a 7 year old on your shoulders pre and après a perceived pee emergency.

Additional info: it was 30 yards to any cover, it was my kid, and I tried to talk the instructor out of it because I knew it would really suck. At end of 5 hour private lesson we got on a very crowded day to skip lift lines. Incredible instructor, great guy. And yes, we tipped very well, adding even more for the pee duty.

@Ron can verify the story.

truth!!!!

 

[James]

When 10 minutes in with a never ever 7 yr old dad swings by to say the kid has to go to the magic carpet. Going there it's actually steep for a beginner and requires turning or falling quickly. Very crappy learning terrain. 10 minutes later mom comes by saying he has to get to the magic carpet as his 3 yr old sister is over there "skiing" and if he doesn't get there... "It's just supposed to be a fun thing." I'm not clear how a seven year old who can't even slow himself down yet and certainly can't turn will find being out of control hurtling downhill towards people and objects fun. But the writing is on the tablet now so we go.

3 yr old sister is "skiing" by being held by an instructor the whole time. We do the hold the pole next to me as we go routine. The kid does ok, no injuries and plenty of photos. He had innate skills. Wouldn't surprise me if in the afternoon someone else got him and he has to get on the chair" was laid on the instructor.

 

[Josh Matta]

If I would have gotten said child^^^^^^

seriously I basically outline the objective reason to any parents why i am doing what I am doing, and never give in. Its not worth it for the kids. If they do not come back to me, they are the ones missing out. Unlike the parents I am actually acting in the kids best interest, and quite frankly their opinions on the matter, do not matter.

I cam certain I have lost people do to my take on this, but I probably gain more once people know I am truly not messing around. I want you kid to have fun but they will learn and not learn ad habits.

 

[LiquidFeet]

You know it's going to be a bad lesson half way in when...

Dad buys a two-hour private with his 6 year old. This is day one for the child. Dad says he might not last for the whole two hours, so if that happens I can work with the older brother who already skis. I put away my poles and Dad says "You might not wanna do that" because, as he explains, he's been skiing with his 6 year old holding his poles out to the side with kid holding on. Then Dad says "But you're the instructor, you do what you think is best."

I start working with the kid, no poles, skiing backwards in front of him, my hands out and his fists pressed into my open palms. I lead him down. He's extremely attention deficit, turning and looking all around him, arms flailing and skis swiveling out of control in every direction. But he stays upright! And he comes to me when I ski a little way away, so he's beginning to ski in control under his own devices. He tires with all this movement and re-balancing that he's not used to doing. About 45 minutes in I'm thinking he's worn out and I don't want him to start falling, so at one hour in I meet up with Dad and the 10 year old. So far, I'm thinking this is a good lesson. I exchange kids with Dad, but there's an attitude thing going on with Dad that I can't read.

I have no idea how the 10 year skis, so I ask him to head down the hill making turns (our bunny slope goes down from the lodge area) so I can watch. He heads straight down. I catch up and ask him to make turns. He skis straight down again, away from me, as if I haven't said anything. I catch up and ask him to follow me, and I ski away making turns. He passes me going straight and stops close to the lift. I catch up and explain that we wlll be working on making good turns in this lesson while he follows me. I explain that he should try hard next time not to pass the teacher. At which point he says loudly "You are the worst instructor in the world, no wonder my Dad hates you!!!" He totally refuses to do anything I ask him, and repeats that sentence loudly, word for word, several times as we ride the lift up and take another run down (not exactly together). Evidently he and Dad have been watching from the chair as I worked with the 6 yo -- without using Dad's teaching method.

45 minutes to go. Now I know it's going to be a bad lesson.
I'm going to start a thread about good lessons. Nursing these memories is getting tiring!

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I am certain I have lost people do to my take on this, but I probably gain more once people know I am truly not messing around. I want you kid to have fun but they will learn and not learn ad habits.

That's great until your customer complains about you by name to management.

 

[markojp]

That's great until your customer complains about you by name to management.

I'm with Josh on this one. Safety is job one. Fun is a close second, third, and fourth. If parents are aggressively insisting their kid should be doing something that they clearly aren't ready to do, I've always had the full support of the school to do what I think is best. A positively delivered explanation of the game plan with an emphasis on the expected outcome almost always takes care of things.

 

[James]

Yeah ok, hard to argue with that setup. Except I just had to deal with keeping the kid safe. Did he learn as much? No. But maybe the embarassment set up by his parents that his 3 yr old sister was doing something he couldn't would've been worse. I assure you the "positively delivered explanation" was not going to cut it.
Ulitimately every one ended up happy. Had it gone on for another lesson it would have been "no" but likely they'd get someone else who didn't know the situation. Working it. But we don't know the home situation either.

We're not saving lives in the er.

 

[markojp]

But we don't know the home situation either.

We're not saving lives in the er.

No kidding to both of those, eh?

 

[KevinF]

I'm with Josh on this one. Safety is job one. Fun is a close second, third, and fourth. If parents are aggressively insisting their kid should be doing something that they clearly aren't ready to do, I've always had the full support of the school to do what I think is best. A positively delivered explanation of the game plan with an emphasis on the expected outcome almost always takes care of things.

I took a leadership training course with the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club; they're by far the biggest hiking / outdoors group in the East). At any rate, their leadership-training-course bashed a couple core concepts into my head, but at the top of the list, the priorities of any outing are:

1. Safety
2. Have fun
3. Achieve the stated goals of the outing. In our environment, that's usually "Summit Mt. Whatever"

i.e., AMC's version of the old adage "Going up is optional, getting down is mandatory". But in the various outdoors adventures I've had over the years, the guides invariably subscribe to some version of the above.

 

[Monique]

Every instructor I ski with has hammered safety into our heads. Safety, fun, education, in that order (IMO as a student). Others might disagree with the order of the second and third.

 

[James]

This is getting absurd. It's not mt climbing. If you really can't handle getting a 7 yr old down 1 magic carpet run he's not capable of, then you would refuse. All the other stuff is true, but if the parents really want their kid to do one run maybe you could handle it. Or make a big stink about it and change everything. I assure you these parents were getting the kid down somehow. All while smiling.

Much worser: 3 hour private with 3 at ten am. Mom shows up ready to go but hammered - as in drunk. Dad and the pre teen apparently not drunk.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Oh my. How did the third hour go?