The explanation of the strange concept of ski school

When teaching children to ski, the most important thing is that they feel safe and have fun. In order to make the lesson feel playful, the ski instructor usually uses small tricks to make learning easier.

Explaining to a child what the terms “plough” or “parallel skis” mean can be quite difficult if the child is young. The concepts are vague and can be difficult for children to relate to. This is why ski instructors tend to use metaphors that children can recognise more easily.

Most children know what a pizza slice or ice cream cone looks like - like a plough - so when the ski teacher says “we're going to make an ice cream cone with our skis”, the children can more easily understand what the ski teacher means. And once the child has managed to mould their skis into an ice cream cone, it is important to keep the skis in the same wide position, otherwise all the ice cream will fall out!

When it is time to learn to ski with parallel skis, the ice cream cone and pizza should be replaced by two French fries lying next to each other. Again, this is easier for the child to understand than for the ski instructor to explain the concept of ”parallel”.

So if your child comes home and proudly tells you that they made pizzas, ice cream cones or French fries in ski school - Now you know why!