Childcare options on a family ski holiday

For families with young children who are not yet old enough to ski, finding good childcare is likely to be a major consideration when planning your holiday. With a bit of research, you’ll probably find various options are available. It is then a case of matching your requirements with your choice of ski resort and your budget.

Although nurseries will take babies from as young as 3 or 6 months, when our children were babies on a family ski holiday, we looked after them ourselves. Each day one of us would ski for half a day whilst the other looked after the children, then we would swap over at lunch.

When the children were old enough for us to feel confident about someone other than us looking after them, we researched the options carefully. Some resorts offer daycare facilities that are run through the resort – often you find these in the USA and Canada catering for infants from 18 months old, although your research may turn up resorts which cater for younger ages.

From 3 years old, you’ll usually be able to find resort facilities which are run by the ski school and involves the children spending time out in the snow with skis on in a designated ‘children’s garden’ area where they can get used to moving about with skis. This type of care may only be for a couple of hours a day, so you’ll need to think about what other arrangements you may need. You should also bear in mind that English may not be spoken in smaller resorts.

In Europe, and particularly the French Alps, your research will probably have found quite a selection of British-run ski operators offering childcare. Some have their own nurseries or creches , some offer evening activities for older children, some will buy in care locally on your behalf, and some employ private nannies.

Which option you choose really does depend on your own needs – and in our case, our holiday budget! We’d recommend looking for facilities that conform to British child-to-carer ratios, and are licensed locally. Look for programmes that include plenty of structure and outdoor play for non-skiers.

We’ve found flexible childcare to be a real bonus on our family ski holidays and were very pleased with our decision last year to opt for morning sessions in a British-run crèche, which allowed us to have fun together as a family in the afternoon.

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