How young to get'm started?

I'll chime in again here. If you have any adult friends learning to ski, let your kids ski with them.

I had several friends learning to ski this year, so I invited them to come along whenever I had the kids. Something about that scenario made them bolder, braver and much more eager to "show off". One particular morning, both of my kids were completely resistant to skiing Armstrong chair. "NOOOOO", they cried. "We will not do that!" So we settled for laps on St. Bernard where my adult friends were practicing their first tele and fixed heel turns. Before I knew it I heard, "So long, mom. We are taking 'so and so' up Armstrong to show them around." Pretty funny considering they'd never been that way before, but show they did. Since then, whenever friends 'cover' for me a few runs, the kids have a hey-day hitting whatever is a little steeper and a little deeper...

I say start them with snow play as soon as they can walk or crawl.  I'm a former instructor of 3 to 6 year olds, and current parent of 3 mini skiers.  Keep it fun, play games with them on the hill, and don't have any expectations of when and where they're going to catch on.  Play in the yard, play on the hill, play in the snow and walk around the house in skis.  Make it fun and have fun yourself with it and 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 years old, it doesn't matter.  Tip connectors really help when they're 2 or 3 and can't quite make a snowplow without it, but don't leave them on too long.  At 1 or 2 it's really about getting them used to playing in the snow while wearing 4 layers of clothes. My 7 year old started skiing at 1 on the plastic skis for a little slide or two in between making snow angels and sledding and now skis any run on any mountain.  His 3 and 6 year old siblings each have their own schedule and desires but we all go up and play in the snow, ski at times, and have a great time together.  Show them what to do, don't lecture or tell them, and always make it fun for them.  If you aren't patient enough or just can't do it yourself, paid lessons are worth their weight in gold.  My oldest son loved having me teach him to ski, but my daughter won't listen to a word I say.  However, she still loves to ski and is getting better every time from watching and following the rest of us.  Keep it fun, make up games to play and they'll do fine.

I've had great luck utilizing the wonderful services of ski-area day care. At 2.5 years, my little guy got to stomp around in plastic skis for 15-20 minutes and then go in for a snack and playtime. At 3.5, we'd get him out of day care and I'd take him down between my legs. This year, we got him a 3-pack of lesson/rentals at Mission Ridge and we'd bomb down runs for 2 hours during his lession, have lunch together, then he'd show us what he learned. Last week we hit up White Pass and he skied from 9:30-3:45 (+lunch), mostly on the easier back-side blues. He's already talking about skiing double black diamonds and "Orange trapazoids! They're even HARDER and even Dada can't ski them! But I can! Well, not yet, but I will be able to someday!"

Best advice I've gotten is: "Keep 'em wanting more". We always try to stop before chaos ensues and keep something waiting for next time. I also try to listen to what's important to him... for a while it meant waiting for a specific number chair to ride. Who the hell knows... I'm just glad he likes skiin'!

But the day care is key, especially with even younger ones in tow. Paula at Mission is awesome and will take great care of even really little ones. I think she might allow 3 month olds!

My eldest started at 3 and my youngest at 1 1/2 on the leash.  Now my kids are 12 and 8 and are solid black diamond skiers (actually the 8-yr is a pretty good double-black skier).   I'm also a ski instructor, teaching kids 7-9.  I just have a few things to add to what's been said before.

* The first year (age 2-3), 5 min on skis is a success.  Just get the gear on play a few minutes (or 1-2 runs on the magic carpet) and then "Yeah, let's go have hot chocolate!"

* Shrug off the bad days.  I mean, kids have bad days when they are not skiing too!  Just because a ski day turns into a cry fest doesn't mean you've turned them off to skiing.  It means they had a bad day and its time to go get hot chocolate (or sit down and pull out the candy bar).

* Tired kid = unhappy kid.  Make sure they get lots of sleep, eat well, eat on the lift, and end the day early.

* Lessons are good.  Make the investment.  Good (and non leaky) gear is good.  Invest in it.

* Around age 7/8, they clue in that if they didn't go skiing, they could stay home and watch TV/play on the wii, whatever.  Ok, here's the deal.  You're in your pajamas and mom/dad want you to load up in the car in the AM and staying in bed and playing -- even if you have fun skiing --  sounds SO much better.   Now is the age, you'll start hearing "I hate skiing".  They know you love skiing and they know you want them to love it.   Ignore it.  Shrug it off, but make skiing worth it to them.  "If you take ski lessons -- just 8 little days -- you can take xyz lessons this spring or we will do whatever you want on Sunday or whatever."  Fortunately kids outgrow this stage!  I've taught 15 years and know a lot of instructors with kids and I've watched a lot of kids grow through these stages.  So don't get dissuaded by the 7-9 yr old whine-fests; make concessions/bribes and stick with it until age 10 before you concede that skiing isn't their "thing".

* Then after lots of years of skiing and lessons, around age 10, you get to graduate that wonderful stage of skiing with your kids as equals and its really cool to be able to enjoy the mountains with them.  And they get the life-long satisfaction of being an expert in a sport.

Almost finishing up the season with me 3 almost 4yr old. The last few times out she started to act not so happy.She had no Idea what I was talking about.
After a powder day with the growen ups. I realized that I was maybe over instructing, So I made sure that when speaking on the hill while moving. To mostly say "yahoo"
"wooohooo", "yikers","WoooooWoooo" "ououuouo" "HAHAHA" "zooooma" "ShhhhShhhhhshhhhh" and other real ski words. She had a much better time.

(will you be my mentor?)
I knew to "keep it fun", but that idea is the best tip on here!!

This thread rocks.  Thanks so much for everyone who's posting.