Teaching your kids to ski

Let me start off by saying that I have 2 wonderful children.  A boy 5 and a girl 3.  I made a failed attempt at getting my son on skis last winter.  It ended after I towed him 25 yards (walking in fron of him, pulling him with a ski pole) and him throwing himself to the ground yelling “I don’t want to, get these off!”  After talking with some friends back east who have successfully tought their kids, I came back with some great ideas.  This season I picked up some highly recommended skiing teaching aids.  One is the edgie-wedgie.  It is a device that attaches to the tips of the child’s skis and keeps them together when attempting the “pizza” (snow plow).  This works great.  He has no problem going down the hill snow plow. 

The other item is probably just as important.  It’s a harness that goes around the child’s waist and shoulders much like suspenders.  Attached to the harness is a leash.  This lets the child ski down by themselves while you can keep track of their speed.  This one from Lucky Bums works great for bigger skiers (my son is 50″ and 70 lbs).  You can even help them change direction by pulling on the straps that are attached to the “d” hooks on the side of the harness.  BTW, I used these items with my 3 year old and also worked great.  This harness was really the key for my kids to gain confidence and to feel like they were skiing on their own.  After a while my son had so much confidence that he insisted on going up the tow lift by himself.  He wiped out a couple of times but he got the hang of it.  The key is really to teach them as young as possible.

 If your in Lake Tahoe a great place to teach them is at the kiddy lift at Homewood Mountain resort.  The rentals are only $18 and kids under 10 ski free with a paid adult ticket.  The adult tickets are cheap, $27 during the week and $45 on the weekends.

 Now the question is when do I buy them their own equipment?  I was thinking of picking up some used skis and boots for cheap.  I have found some on eBay anywhere from $50 to $150 with bindings.  I figure after renting for 5 or more times they should pay for themselves.  Then there is the time savings of not having to stand in line to rent every time.

My first blog thanks to a great seminar

As my first blog I’d like to take this oppportunity to thank John Harper and Pat Kitano of Transparent Real Estate for holding a very informative seminar on blogging and how it relates to the real estate industry.  I would also like to thank my good friend and life mentor Jim Walberg for talking me into going.  If you have not attended one of these seminars I would encourage anyone to do so.   Even if you do not to choose to start blogging, I think you will benefit by finding valuable resources to further your education on real estate.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the short 5 years that I have been in real estate it’s that no transaction is the same.  By finding useful blog sites you can draw on the expertise and experiences of thousands of other agents across the country.  Here is the schedule

more to come…….