Kids and Mt.High

[Emilio]

In response to my recent question about “Where have all the skiers gone”, I received a number of different responses. A whole symphony of different voices with all kinds of interesting ideas.

One of the issues many people have touched on is kids. It seems that we have quite a number of parents with kids whose participation in club activities is somewhat limited by the kids in their lives. Many of these parents are all looking forward to becoming “empty nesters”. Many would like to see their kids being more welcomed in our club. Many of these kids are 8, 10, or 11 years old and some are participating in ski racing. If the kids are mature enough to race, surely they would fit in on our ski trips as well.

I have always advocated for a greater acceptance of kids at our club events. Here are just some of the parents I have heard from recently:

Emm Moore: “I am a single mom of an 8 yr old so it’s hard to go on a bus trip ... especially as he is in Meadows Race Team so I am there just about every weekend both days.”

George Yun: “Once kids leave to go to college I will have more time to attend club functions and perhaps even organize a trip or two.”
 

Alan Polaski: “I would love to be more involved in the club, and plan to be in the future. I’ve got kids in 8^th and 11^th grade that I’m really involved with, coaching teams, including my son’s high school ski team (which had races both club Saturdays), and it’s all I can do to get away on Pacrat Sundays doing my own thing. Once we become empty nesters (or even half empty nesters) I expect my time will free up a lot, so I’m thrilled to keep hearing about events, even if they aren’t ones I can swing currently.”

Brenda Becerra: “Since 1992 I have been involved in Bergies, Mt. High and PACRAT racing and have made many long-lasting friendships throughout the years since moving to Portland and am grateful for the opportunities provided by those clubs and events for hooking me up, but now I find I'm just happy to see those folks at the Ski Expo, Ski Fair, and PACRAT races as many club events and trips are not kid friendly (even the apre ski PACRAT race parties - maybe a kid's fee for the apres skis party and not the "look"?).”

I think it’s a pity that some of our club members appear to be opposed to welcoming kids in our club. I would like us to reconsider that issue.

As for the parents, I would say: Why wait till the kids leave home for good? Why not include them in at least some of our activities and trips?

Our current club policy on kids is a kind of a compromise solution. We have agreed that the trip captain or an event organizer has the final say for any one particular trip or event. Kids can be welcome at a trip, for example, provided the following two conditions are met:

a) The trip leader agrees to have kids on the trip; and

b) the kid is accompanied by an adult who takes full responsibility for the kid during the trip.

So, what do you all think? Personally, I was a bit surprised that so many people in our club have kids. I knew about Violet and Brenda, but not about the others. And there may be more.

NOTE: This email might start an interesting discussion. So, I took the liberty of posting this on the Mountain High Forum (which currently consists of only about 50 club members). If either of the people quoted here would rather not have their opinion posted in the Forum, please let me know ASAP and I can remove your entry.

I sent this email to our inner circle of Board members and those who have or are attending Board meetings, as well as to the Mt. High Forum (which is read by about 50 of our members). Please note that you can reply to this email in at least 3 ways:

a) Hit REPLY, and only Emilio will get your email. (Personally, I would prefer that we all reply to everyone.)

b) Hit REPLY ALL, and all the Board members and the Forum will receive your reply.

c) Hit REPLY ALL but then delete just one email address: MtH...@googlegroups.com from the list of recipients. Do this if you are OK with replying to all the Board members but don’t want your reply to be posted in the Forum.  
 

Emilio