Eco Child’s Play

My kids seem to have always been climbers. My theory is partly that we live next to a nice big park with natural areas and playgrounds and go there every day, giving the girls a LOT of practice in their few short years, but it also just seems innate in them to go up, up, up. They both started scaling the big-kid monkeybars at a young enough age that other parents would occasionally snatch them down and start to give me a lecture before realizing that no, lady, I am NOT the babysitter, and we are about to have ourselves a little talk.

My girls seem to feel, however, (and I have to say that I agree), that trees are MUCH better for climbing than your general, run-of-the-mill playground monkeybars. Trees are more challenging, in that the layout of their branches and the way you can climb them is different for every tree, often different for the same tree as the seasons pass. Trees are real, as opposed to the manufactured play of the monkeybars, allowing children to test their actions in the real world, as opposed to the world made for them. And trees are natural, allowing my daughters, every time they climb, to learn everything from the texture of the bark to the way branches sway in the wind to the power contained in the height of any simple tree, and the power of being in that tree for yourself.

• » See also: Grow Your Own Tree Hugger: 101 Activities to Teach Your Child How to Live Green
• » Get Eco Child’s Play by RSS or sign up by email.

Because trees are real, however, and because they grow and are not built, you won’t find the same safety mechanisms that you find in the playground. This is a good thing, too, because it enables you to teach your children how to keep themselves safe in the real world (a skill they’ll find highly applicable as they grow), and it shows your children that they can achieve great things in this world, while also managing acceptable risks.

Here are some guidelines to share with your children, or just to keep in mind for yourself:

1. Teach your children that the best way to climb, at least while they’re young or beginners at climbing, is either “Hand, foot, hand, foot” or “Hand, hand, foot, foot.” They should find the next branch first with their hand, and make sure that their grip with that hand is very firm. Then they should continue to move one hand or foot at a time. This rule will keep your children safer, in that they will always have a good grip, and it will help them learn to manage risk, in that it will remind them that they always need to be hanging on to something with their hands. Do the opposite–feet first–when they’re on their way back down.
2. Teach your children never to put their weight onto a branch that sways or gives when they touch it. If they can move a branch, then it isn’t yet strong enough to hold their weight.
3. Teach your children to stay close to the trunk when they climb. At the tree’s center there are more branches to choose from and the branches are at their strongest. Shimmying out down the length of a branch is something they can learn to gauge the safety of if they’re older, but it is more risky.
4. Watch your mouth. It is unhelpful to tell a child, “Be careful.” These words contain no helpful concrete information for a climbing child, but it does suggest to her that she’s not doing something correctly and that she should be frightened. It’s also less helpful to stand at the bottom of the tree and constantly talk at your child, giving her helpful suggestions and warnings, etc.–she’s trying to concentrate up there, and one of the lessons that it’s nice for her to learn is that in this tree, she is completely responsible for her own actions. In this tree, it is up to her to keep herself safe, and to achieve whatever goal she wants to achieve.
5. Do not tell your child that she is “too high,” or that it is time to come down. Give your child ample time to explore the tree that she’s in, and permit her to judge her own acceptable level of risk, within the points of the guide that we’ve discussed so far. You want her to learn that she, not you, is ultimately responsible for what her body is and is not capable of within a given situation, what she, not you, is or is not comfortable with, and that she, not you, is, again, ultimately responsible for keeping herself safe–these lessons will help her with risk management and self-advocacy.
6. Keep your hands off. Do not use your body to help a child get higher than she could climb independently, and do not use your body to pull her down from the tree or otherwise rescue her. The former offers the reward without the challenge, and may put your child in a physical situation that she’s not yet capable of mastering. The latter, even if your child is afraid and asks for your help, does not teach her that she is responsible for the earlier choices that she’s made, both good and bad. If your child feels that she’s stuck, it’s much more helpful to talk her down, offering some concrete information like, “I see that the next branch is a little lower than you thought. Try sitting down on the branch you’re standing on, and see if you can reach it then.” It’s most helpful to keep your voice calm, even, and unstressed. If your child gets nervous you can reassure her that she looks safe, or you can remind her that it’s her choice to go up or come back down, and either choice is fine. Depending on the age of your child, the nature of the tree, and the goal you’d like to achieve, tools such as rope ladders or platforms on your own trees can range from really helpful to completely unnecessary.
7. Climb up with your child. Letting your child take the lead, it’s nice to follow her up the tree every now and then. You’re on an equal footing with your child in this environment, if not at a slight disadvantage, and your child can likely show you some tricks, as well as share her view of the world. Tree climbing can actually be quite a sport, and can involve ropes and gear and advanced strategies–check out Tree Climbers International for some of the possibilities for older children and adults.

The lessons that your child can learn from tree climbing can be subtle, and may well be invisible to you both for quite a while. Imagine, though, how much better your child might be equipped to handle her teen years if she is confident, if she has had the experience of mastering challenging activities, if she has had experience taking healthy risks and evaluating risk for herself, if she knows how to listen to her body and evaluate her surroundings, if she knows that choices have consequences that we must then follow through, if she has seen that in the real world there is no safety net, if she knows that she, not another person, is ultimately responsible for keeping herself safe.

We would all do so well to know so much.

Tweet This Post

You might also like: