Being a father has taught me a lot of things in life, including some very unexpected psychology lessons while attempting to introduce our kid to this sport. The picture above is our then-almost-3-year-old taking her first (and possibly last [!] run behind the boat) I'd like to tell that story, as well as my own childhood water skiing story in an attempt to drum up some conversation on the topic.

My parents were far from being water skiing enthusiasts, however, they did both grow up with small cabins in the north woods as summer homes and accordingly were exposed boating, fishing, and water skiiing. In other words, they could get up on combos, drop one, get up slalom, etc., but that's about it. Certainly no tournament inboards, barefooting, trick skiing, course skiing, etc. I came up with that level of the disease on my own.

When I was growing up in the 80's, our family did actually have a boat or two. These were still the pre-SUV days, when a full-size car always had a V8, always sat on a full frame, and could easily pull a boat. Back then, we shared the boat with our neighbors. It was a dual-family buy. The first boat was an old, plywood, closed-bow, 16ft Switzer Craft outboard. I barely remember that boat and certainly never skied behind it. Our next boat was a nearly square-looking tri-hull with a 100hp Evinrude. Although I don't recall that boat ever running well, I do recall the adults doing a little skiing with it here and there. I would say the last time our family had any sort of running boat was when I was about 9 years old. By that time I had still not water skied.

So, I guess I'm only telling you about the boats to say that I was exposed to boating as a kid to some degree. I still had zero desire to ski behind one. I remember the adults always talking about us kids potentially waterskiing as some holy grail of achievement. "OOOOH, maybe you'll want to learn how to water ski up north this year" "No, mom. No thanks." I remember being terrified of the thought of skiing. Over the years, other families that we knew would talk about their kids skiing or their boating shenanigans. Kids and skiing were always a very highly praised, energetic conversation. I definitely recall that.

So, we had this one family friend who had a lake house in the northwoods AND happened to belong to a family of show skiers. They had formed the local ski show team in the 70's and some of the family members went on to run big shows in Florida, etc. Let's just say they were serious skiers. And had a real ski boat. Even being exposed to them when I was 8 or 9 did nothing for me as far as making skiing a less terrifying prospect. I got pulled down the beach on trainers, and somewhat enjoyed that- but seriously was not into going any further. I'm told that I did take a ride around the lake on the front of somebody's skis, but I have zero recollection of that. They say that my younger sister went behind the boat and shortly thereafter I caved. But still didn't like it, and I don't remember any of it.

What I'm touching on here is the psychology of waterskiing as a child. My parents definitely encouraged it, our family friends encouraged it, other families we knew with boats talked about it and encouraged it. Yet I did not want to do it. I remember when I was 15 or so, I got mono and was told by the doctor not to do anything like waterskiing that summer (spleen moves down from the ribcage or someting like that). Huge relief. No pressure to ski at the family trip up north. I specifically remember the relief of having that excuse, should water skiing break out on our family trip. Then again, I wasn't exactly the most adventurous child- I remember refusing to go up to the top of the St. Louis arch when I was about 10. Whole family went up, I stayed behind. Didn't think it was safe- there was no way I was going up there!

Eventually I found water skiing because my now-wife's family had a runabout that they took out during most fair-weather weekends over the summer. As a 20-something, I took to it with incredible passion and drive. Bought the first ski boat at age 23 and the rest is history.

Fast forward to 2007. Our first child is born, and she's amazing. At this point, boating and skiing are a deeply engrained way of life for us. Summer schedules, vacations, and social activities all pivot around skiing. Madison takes her first boat ride at 4 weeks. Every Spring Break of her life so far has involved a trip to a ski school. She's sat in the boat and watched us ski millions of times. She's been on CorrectCraftfan.com boating trips, campouts, events. Every time she plays outside or gets in and out of our car, there's been a ski boat right there in the garage. We raft up with multiple ski boats all the time in the summer, turning the ski platforms into swim/play/jump central. We're talking 100% exposure here. 

Now, we've never been pushy about making her try skiing. In 2010 we finally purchased a summer home on a lake. At the same time, I purchased a ski trainer (pictured above), and introduced Madison to it. I'd pull her down the beach by hand, over and over, and she loved it. She'd yell "hit it" and percolate with glee as I reeled in the rope by hand. I mean, we're at the lake house for weeks at a time- lake is right there, boat is right there on a lift. There's definitely talk of her skiing, but no "THIS IS FUN, DAMMIT! SKI OR SWIM BACK TO THE HOUSE ON YOUR OWN" style stuff. I'd say gentle persuasion, at the most. She would politely decline any offer to go behind the boat, and we'd shut up about it right away.

Finally, we asked her at some point and she said yes. We could not believe it. We brought the boat in close to the shore and let her stand in the shallows on her little trainer ski. My brother was at the transom, holding the rope for an insta-release/rescue if she got into trouble. She said "hit it", and I did- a whopping 6mph trip in a tight circle (as tight as I could go without her whipping out of the wake). Video confirms her gleefully emitting a "woo-hoo!" as she came up on plane. My brother reported her state in real time as I drove, confirming she was having a good time. As I returned to the dock, my wife swam out and met Madison the moment we let the rope go- no falling, nothing. I don't think she even got her hair wet. However, my whole family was out on the dock, just LOSING THEIR MINDS with cheers and enthusasm- screaming out encouragement, cheering etc. And, Madison lost it. Terribly scream-crying, inconsoleable. To this day, we don't know what went wrong. Was it the family all going nuts over it at the dock? Did something happen between the gleeful beginning of the run and the end of the run? We don't know. And, we'll probably never know. Last spring, I brought her trainer ski out of the shed and she immediately started crying at the sight of it. Even playing the video back last night to pull the still shot for this post caused her to start crying! How sad is that? "I never want to do that again, Dad. Never. Erase that video."

So, we kinda blew it with the early childhood skiing. Even being as low-pressure as possible, it just didn't happen. Don't get me wrong- we are completely fine with it. When she feels intrinsically motivated to try it, if ever, we'll be there for her. Until then, as always, zero pressure. I refuse to use extrinsic motivation of any sort, although that does work for a lot of kids. I can't blame her for not wanting to ski- as I mentioned earlier I was certainly no fan of the concept, even at 5 years older than she was.

What involvement do your kids have in the sport, if any and how did they take to it? Do you have any childhood memories of learning how to ski and what you were thinking and feeling at that time?