For parents that ski or snowboard keeping up their winter sports holidays while having young children is a challenge. My little boy is now a toddler, at 18 months he is too young to join ski school so we needed to book a ski holiday that included child care.
We decided to book a chalet holiday with Esprit Ski and enrolled the little man in their creche. This blog is a review of Esprit Ski childcare for a toddler, not the boarding (which was awesome!) or the chalet (which was also awesome) I will review these separately.
The childcare aspect of holiday began with a nice touch: A member of the Esprit Ski nursery team was on the airport transfer to introduce herself and provide childcare forms to complete. This small touch meant we knew what would happen the next day and there would be no unnecessary delays – members of the childcare team were also around after we’d settled into the chalet .
As any parent knows, handing over the care of your child to a stranger is a daunting thing to do. However, the Esprit Ski staff very quickly put us at ease – mainly through their enthusiasm for childcare. It helped that our son was playing with one of the team before we had even finished the introductions! It is also reassuring that the nursery staff are all British and fully qualified to UK standards.
Our son does not go to creche at home, so we were worried there might be tears on the first day – but he barely noticed us leave. On day 2 he knew what was happening and started to get upset. One of the staff sat him down and started to read his favourite book (The Gruffalo’s Child) and he was not upset for long.
This pattern continued for the week; he would be upset on arrival at the nursery but the team would distract and entertain him in various ways avoiding any need for us to get involved.
When it was collection time he was obviously pleased to see us, but didn’t run over and make a big fuss – probably because he was always busy having fun with the other kids, toys or staff. On a couple of occasions he was so engrossed in a particular toy that he was allowed to take it away with him!
Each day the staff took the nursery children outside for some fun in the snow; often it was a trip to the park and a walk around the village. However, one day they took them up the mountain in the gondola to admire the view and on another day they went out to see the ice sculptures.
When we picked him up at the end of each day, the staff gave us a detailed breakdown of the day’s activities, including details of his mood, number of nappy changes, what he had eaten, his naps, what he had played with and where he had been.
Our son always seemed happy, content and entertained with the Esprit Ski staff, as did the other kids in the creche.
Over the week, playing with lots of children and being looked after by different adults seems to have advanced his communication and interaction skills. His vocabulary has increased and he now understands sharing and taking turns with other children, which had previously been a problem at play groups.
I would be very happy to recommend the Esprit Ski childcare services and hope to use them again in the future. Not only are they professional but they are also fun, so your child will enjoy it while you make the most of time on the piste.