How I Became The Worst Dad....

Skiing and snowboarding has inherent risks. Collisions and near collisions with other people are one of the top hazards on mountain.

As a family who prioritizes skiing I want to teach my kids from an early age to do everything they can to maintain awareness and to pay attention.

We also sometimes increase the risks as a family by sometimes goofing around, pulling and holding onto each other while moving on skis. I coach my kids to only do this with each other and there are times and places where this isn't okay.

We value risky play and believe that embracing risk is an important and healthy part of life.

This was an incident that luckily didn't turn out worse and I'm grateful for that.

Every 1-2 winters we usually have 1 "incident" where there is a near-miss or a collision of sorts. And every time when I share the video I have people on social media state that the downhill skier needs to be looking up behind them before they turn or stop.

This shows me that many people do not know about or understand the Alpine Responsibility Code.

This is quite absurd to me. As the a dad who often adventures with his kids I take a lot of pride in having as much "extra" awareness as I can. I am usually one step ahead of my kids and can anticipate their next moves. This could and sometimes does involve looking behind me, but that will never supersede the importance of the uphill skier always paying attention and giving the right of way to the skiers and boarders below them.

I think a lot of people who comment negatively on this situation aren't big skier or snowboarders themselves AND many of them aren't aware just how good a skier Adia is.

I speak to my kids like they are capable and competent humans - because they are.