Guest post by Tamsin Ingot
My daughter, Alexis, has always had a hard time trying new things. Even having her taste a new breakfast cereal has been a tricky task in the past, so you can imagine how much trouble it was to get her to try out a new sport! And this isn’t simply swimming or hockey we’re talking about; oh no, something a little more extreme: skiing.
Of course, here in the UK the risk of freezing cold snow isn’t quite so prevalent, but it’s still no fun for a nine year old to slip up on (or any of us, come to think of it). As a family we’ve always enjoyed going on sporting holidays, particularly the ones giving us the opportunity to try winter sports, so it was only natural that Alexis joined in with the rest of us. Getting her out on a piste though? Another matter entirely!
Much like I’m sure every other family in the UK, we are always on the lookout for cut price deals on holidays, and if we can save while we’re out there – all the better. It’s not that we don’t like to spend too much, simply that if we can save on something, why shouldn’t we? In order to get Alexis to try her hand (or foot) at skiing, we needed to look into one of the many ski hotels Switzerland has to offer, and thankfully we found one in quite quickly.
Once we got out there we were all raring to get out on the slopes – all except for Alexis that is! So I took up the gauntlet and decided to show her how to ski myself. Some may call this the ‘hard way’, but I’ve never been one to pass up a challenge! I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to teach a nine year old anything, especially in freezing cold conditions, but take it from me – it’s not easy. Thankfully the ski resort we stayed at had a special beginners area where there was more than one other plucky mum trying to do the same thing as me. I think we all took solace in the fact that we had a common goal!
After a while Alexis really did take to skiing. Obviously we didn’t push her into doing anything too advanced, and she did have a few tumbles, but she really loved it. The look on her face said it all: a smile from cheek to cheek! It went so well that we’re hoping to go again next year; and believe it or not, Alexis actually asked me yesterday when she’d be able to go skiing again. So miracles really do happen!
