Improving your skiing - the hard way

We are in the middle of a two-week ski vacation, one week at la Clusaz and one week at Meribel. Like most parents, we can't just let our children enjoy themselves on the slopes - we are genetically programmed to improve them.

Thus, when we got Alexander going with ski poles and a few runs later he had a major blow-out of a fall, we gave him a pat parental lie/line that "if you aren't falling then you're not trying hard enough. Falling is just a way to show you that you are improving!"

Today, Yvonne took a bad fall on a morning run in Meribel (steep run + lots of ice + stomach flu = trouble) . We went to the excellent on-slope medical facilities, determined that she hadn't broken anything, then rounded up the kids from ski school.

On being told that his mother had taken a bad fall and being presented with her wearing a sling and a sheepish look, Alexander immediately responded, "mommy, you must be improving a lot to be taking falls like that!"