Jonathan Tollefson

There are certain things in our lives that prevent us from snowboarding as much as we might want throughout the year.  Things such as lack of snow, weekend parties, vacations, significant others, and hangovers cause us to miss the few days that we have in the Midwest to snowboard.  The more of these we can get rid of, the more days on the snow we will have.  One way to do this is by getting your spouse or significant other to come with you snowboarding.  In doing so, I want to tell you that you should never teach your spouse or significant other to snowboard for the first time.

If you are looking to get your significant other into the sport of snowboarding, or maybe they want to come snowboarding with you, you need to get them into a lesson before they ever snowboard with you.  Believe me, this will save your marriage or your relationship.  Because snowboarding is a very frustrating and brutal sport to learn, it is important to leave the pressure of teaching and learning on someone else.  I know this from experience.

After living in Colorado for a bit, my girlfriend and I thought that it would be a great idea to teach her how to snowboard.  So what did I do?  I took it upon myself to train her.  Seeing that I have taught many different people how to snowboard, I thought that this would be a perfect chance to become closer to my girl and teach her something completely new.  This could have been the worst decision I have ever made!

Usually being a calm and go-with-the-flow type of person, I want you to know how I ended up feeling and treating my precious girlfriend this day.  One quote can explain it all, “Kelly, you are going to make me break my goggles and stab myself in the eye if you keep saying you want to quit and that you can’t do it!”  I know it sounds crazy, and we laugh about it today, but honestly this is how I felt.  I promise that if you try to teach your significant other to snowboard, you are going to go through the same frustration.  I can only imagine what my girlfriend wanted to say to me.  I am sure that she was not going to tell me how much she loves me.

To sum it all up, pay the extra cash that it takes to get your significant other a snowboarding lesson.  I know it is not cheap, but I promise that this little act will save your relationship.  One lesson is all it usually takes, and from that time on you will be able to snowboard more, your spouse or significant other will love the sport, and you will never want to gouge your eyeballs out.  Snowboarding is a sport that everyone can enjoy, and one that most people love once they are able to go down the hill without killing themselves.  Get your spouse a lesson and you are one step closer to Boarding the Midwest All day, Everyday.