We’re back from our annual family ski vacation, and had another successful year. Though more skiing is in our future, a unique aspect of our experience this week was that almost all of us had a ski lesson. In pairs of two, we set off for a few hours with an instructor to work on our skill.

I am still new to the sport, but what struck me was how everyone, no matter how long they’d been cutting across mountains, walked away from their lesson with something new. For me, as I begin to transition to more advanced techniques, our objective was blending.

There are three main skills to parallel skiing, and to be successful, you have to blend them together into a perfect balance. Too much of any one skill, and you could soon find yourself on the ground, collecting your equipment, and starting again. Too little, and as with too much, you don’t end up where you intended to be.

Blending is the quintessential skill of fatherhood. To a child, you must be a mentor, coach, and disciplinarian, all at different points during the day. You train your children in the principles that will guide them in life, encourage and cheer them on as they gain new skills and try new things, and correct errors to prevent them from becoming problems.

Too much, or too little, of any one blend and the results will not be what you intended. It is the art, and effort of a lifetime, for each parent to learn how to blend these skills, and tailor them to each child. It is an unimaginably difficult task, and one that must be done while maintaining work and family obligations. Leading a child is an all-consuming, and all-rewarding, experience.

As with skiing, mistakes will be made and crashes will happen. But we must get down the mountain, and the only way to do so is to get back up, reset set, and push forward.