Meet Jan and Stephanie Tan, a program manager and fashion designer with two daughters, Brigitte, 13, and Gabriella, 10, who are part of the Mt Buller Race Club and the Ski Club of Victoria.
Mr Tan said his children were involved in snow sports because it was one of the first activities in which they had shown a great deal of proficiency.
In the beginning, he said snow sports were intended to be a family activity but then both girls “well and truly” surpassed their parents.
The Tan children have now been involved in the race club for five years.
Last year, Gabriella won Queen of the Mountain and the Creswell Family Cup for her age group in ski racing. 
"Family time": The Tan family spend every winter weekend commuting to and from Mt Buller in Victoria. Source: Supplied
“Our kids are quite driven and I guess we’re quite fortunate to be able to support their ambitions,” Mr Tan said.
Mr Tan said he believed he and his wife had adopted a “nature versus nurture” parenting style.
We don’t believe we actually push them.
The exception to this rule was language schooling.
“That is the one thing we do force them to do,” he said.
Parenting children with busy schedules
Both Mr and Ms Tan met each other after migrating to Australia in their high school years. They have been married for 15 years now.
“We have Chinese heritage. Our ancestors came from China. We’re both Chinese by heritage but culturally are Aussie cause we kind of grew up here,” Mr Tan said.
Since becoming parents of children with a packed schedule of extra-curricular activities, Mr Tan said that he felt fortunate to have a flexible job that enabled him to do school pick-ups and drop-offs, as well as run the kids around to competitions and lessons.
Thursdays was his day off as neither child was taking part in swimming, violin, singing, equestrian, tennis or language school on that day.
In the winter, both children are part of Mt Buller’s Race Club and the Ski Club of Victoria, which means school holidays and weekends were spent on the mountain.
“At a practical level, there is a lot of planning, there is a lot of organisation associated with having to go up and down [the mountain], especially in a seasonal program and especially in our setting because we live off-mountain,” Mr Tan said.
He said it cost approximately $40,000 to put his children in the ski clubs per winter season.
“It’s because the kids do need their specialised gear. At the beginning of the season, they need to have their boots properly fitted because there is no point in going racing if you do not have the right equipment because it’s going to be a disadvantage,” he said.
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The family’s commitment to the sport also meant Mr Tan sometimes woke his family up at 4.30am on a Saturday morning to drive them all up to Mt Buller by the time the ski lifts opened.
Ms Tan skis but due to a long-term injury, Mr Tan stays off the snow and essentially acts as the family’s chauffeur.
“I’m like dad’s taxi,” he said.
Gabriella and Brigitte said they usually slept through the drive.
“Not sure how dad feels.There’s a lot of walking, a lot of driving. It’s quite difficult for them,” Brigitte said.
Parenting style with ‘love’ and a lesson
Both children were inspired by Australian female mogul skier Jakara Anthony winning a gold medal at the recent Beijing Winter Olympics, particularly Gabriella who said she had her sights set on becoming an anaesthetist as well as a Winter Olympian one day.
“She came from this mountain [Mt Buller] so that inspires me to push and train myself to become a Winter Olympian like her,” Gabriella said.
She said that when she found racing “thrilling", she would urge herself to go faster and be more aggressive.
“[But] it’s also nerve-wracking. When you’re racing and the ground is icy, you feel like you’re almost going to fall so then you slow yourself down,” she added.
Are their parents behind their ambitions and do their parenting styles play a role in their children aiming high?
We are a little bit different in that while we do encourage our daughters to excel, we try to make them do things in moderation and make sure they continue to be happy.
“It’s not just about achievement. It’s not just about academia. We try to keep it balanced and hopefully we can encourage them to grow up to be well-balanced individuals who are healthy both physically and mentally," Mr Tan said.
Both parents said they hoped both children grew up happy and that they didn’t expect for anything in return from them.
“I would like them to look back on their childhoods somewhat fondly and be grateful for the experience they had,” Mr Tan said.
“With snow sports, in particular, it’s a lot of hard work. We take the opportunity to teach them that hard work always pays off,” Ms Tan added.
