{"id":4880,"date":"2012-11-26T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T06:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/?p=4880"},"modified":"2014-02-09T10:34:30","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T09:34:30","slug":"corvara-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/it\/corvara-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Corvara for kids: don\u2019t come with a three year old"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This month’s “for kids” article is a team effort between Laura, our kids’ columnist, and I, Alexandra, certified non-expert in children. My close friends know that I don’t much care for children, so when Laura proposed taking a week’s ski holiday together in the mountains, at close quarters, with 3.5 year old Francesco,<\/em> to be honest, I hesitated at first. But the fact is that Francesco is a smart and pleasant child whom I quite like, and in fact the holiday turned out just great and we are all still friends.<\/p>\n

We went in February 2012, and are publishing our experience now to help people plan for their winter holidays. Before leaving, Laura did research to find out what to do with a three year old child in Corvara<\/strong>. She does not ski, but wanted Francesco to start (aged 3 years and 4 months), and intended to place him in ski school while she would relax, read, and enjoy spa treatments. Unfortunately, things did not work out as planned. Here is what we ended up having to do, and our advice for anyone traveling to Alta Badia with a child under five years of age. The rest of this post is team written.<\/p>\n

Can he ski?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As you know, Laura does a lot of research to find fun activities to do with Francesco (see her Florence for kids articles summarized here<\/a>), and traveling is no exception. She wrote to the Corvara ski school for information in advance and found he could be signed up for classes, but upon arrival we were told a different story. Here’s what happened in her words.<\/p>\n

Laura explains:<\/p>\n

I wrote in advance to the ski school in Corvara (close to the Boe ski lift), and told them not only Francesco\u2019s age but also his height, weight and shoe size (as I know that he\u2019s smaller than average). They told me he would be able to attend the ski school every day, Monday \u2013 Wednesday – Friday from 10.00 to 12.45 and Tuesday \u2013 Thursday from 10.00 to 16.00 including lunches. I planned my own activities accordingly.<\/em><\/p>\n

We arrived on Saturday and went to the ski school to book but, surprise, they say Francesco is too little to start skiing. The next day, \u00a0I went to get information about the Ski Kinderland (day care service) but they told me children would stay indoors and as Francesco is always at school I felt sorry to be on holidays and leave him at a school similar to the one he attends every day in Florence. So on Monday we went shopping around Corvara together but coming back home I noticed that actually children having ski lessons were as little as Francesco.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
An attempt to ski. See how he can’t hold a snowplow?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We decided to take matters in our own hands – after all, I taught kids to ski all through high school. Towards the end of the day, we got a set of rental skis for me and a little pair for Francesco, whose feet were a size smaller than the smallest boot available. And we did a little test on the bunny hill. And the big, bad grooming machine started cleaning up nearby and scared little Francy to death. And he cried, and cried, and cried. Here is what that looked like.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I tried taking him down in a snowplow hug, but he was quite hysterical. Ski boots are hard and uncomfortable, and skis are scary. And although he trusts me, he could not be comforted until the skis were put away and he was moved away from the noisy machines.<\/p>\n

In general, it’s possible to start skiing at age three and up, though it depends on each child. Francesco is small for his age and may not have the muscles and coordination necessary to hold a snowplow position. If your child is in this situation, try enrolling him or her in tennis or basketball, two sports that require very precise movements and develop hand-eye and muscle coordination. Next year Francesco will be ready!<\/p>\n

Another important step towards skiing is getting the child used to snow and outdoor sports, especially if you live somewhere warm. This was Francesco’s second trip to the mountains; last year Fabio and Laura took him sledding (which he didn’t like much either). Try sledding, carrying the kid in a backpack, short walks outside, snowman making and any kind of games in the snow to get them used to being bundled up and outside.<\/p>\n

Laura: \u201cAlexandra was so sweet as she made a test to see if actually Francesco was too tiny to have ski lessons!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, it’s useful for kids to see their parents ski equipment as they want to imitate mommy and daddy<\/strong>. So we placed Francesco on Fabio’s snowboard<\/strong> and guess what? He LOVED it. Maybe it is a sign… can we skip skiing altogether? Check out the video – at the end he shouted “ancora” (again)!<\/p>\n