Skiing during term time.

I have a four year old boy who loves going on holiday. Who doesn't? I take him as often as I can which includes skiing in the winter and swimming in the summer. The problem now is that he's registered at a school and the only way we can get away during term time, is to put in an application to the school head before booking anything, and hoping he says it's okay to go. My little boy is not 5 years old yet. While he's still 4, he skis for free. We went away in January and I got permission from the school, but they won't give me the okay to go again in March. I have to wait until the Easter holidays, in April when the snow has all but turned to slush and worse, my little boy will be 5 and I'll have to pay for his travel, accommodation and lift pass! Not to mention the fact that the holiday itself will be twice as much over Easter. Am I being unreasonable here? He's in reception! He completed nursery last year and to-date, he's never had a day off sick. When he's older and goes for a job interview, will he be at a disadvantage because he went on two skiing holidays at the age of 4 when he was in reception? I think not.

So what about when he's 5? Am I still going to be wanting to take my little boy out of school during term time? For skiing yes, and I've listed my reasons below, but just once a year as he won't be free anymore. In summer it isn't such a problem. In the summer a hotel by the beach with a pool can only hold a certain amount of people, so when it's full it's full. You don't have to worry about over crowding in the pool, or there not being enough room in the restaurant to eat. But when you go skiing it's a different story. The slopes have no limit to the number of people on them at any given time and the busiest times are, of course, during the school holidays when parents are allowed to take their kids away for a week or two. My problem with this is that the more people skiing down the same run, the more dangerous it becomes and the less enjoyable. Then there are the queues to get on the lifts where you could easily be waiting in the freezing cold for 20 minutes just to get on. How is that fun? You've also got the added disadvantage of the travel prices being almost double compared to any other time during the ski season, and the lift passes go up during high season too. Great!

So let's take a look at the advantages of going skiing during term time. Firstly, it's a hell of a lot cheaper. Secondly, there are rarely queues for the lifts so you get a lot more skiing done, instead of waiting around feeling cold and miserable. Thirdly, it's a lot less dangerous on the slopes with less people around and fourthly, it's a lot more fun and you get value for money.
So I'll be requesting a week out every winter! Who's with me on this?