This post is about climbing everything other than mountains. I grew up in southeastern Arkansas where the highest elevation for hundreds of miles was the pitchers mound at the high school ball field. The land was flat for as far as you could see. Actually it was flat farther than you could see. So I was not climbing any mountains, but I did love to climb trees.
I think I first started climbing trees at my Grandma's house. She had a tree that was easy enough for anyone to climb. I think the dogs could have climbed it if we in fact had dogs. I liked climbing that tree, and I went from there.
My best childhood buddy, Evan, and I climbed trees all the time. We lived near a patch of woods where we played pretty much every day. The patch of woods sat between our neighborhood and the nursing home/hospital. One summer we got into taking all the old junk from the nursing home to make our little club in the woods. We had couches and chairs and other furniture. We also took old wooden pallets that we decided would be our tree houses. So my friend and I dragged these pallets up into two different trees. One we got about 30 feet off the ground.
Yes it was stupid, and it was very hard for two small boys. Despite our best efforts neither of us got hurt. We never fell from trees and got hurt unless you count the time we were swinging on a vine and the vine broke. Evan flew 20 feet through the air and broke his arm. That is not falling from a tree though.
I am thinking about all this climbing because I have a miniature Sir Edmund Hilary living in my house. Braden tries to climb everything. He has a little toy chair that he practically never sits in. He stands in it. He climbs the back of the chair and couch. He climbs into our entertainment center. He hasn't started climbing the drawers in the kitchen yet, but it is only a matter of time.
When Arica or myself hold Braden he tries to climb us. He walks right up our body with his little feet going at a lightening pace. We took him to the park recently and he climbed the steps on the slide. They were really big for him, but that didn't even slow him down. When he got to the top he climbed on some bars and wanted to hang out over the slide. He has no fear.
All this climbing will no doubt affect both his mother and I. Arica will probably never rest easy again because of Braden's adrenalin junkie type attitude. On the other hand, I was thinking that some day he could really help me out putting up my deer stands.
13 comments:
Ha, yea my Son is one of those fearless climbers too. He likes to hold our hands and jump up and flip. He loves it. (He's 3). Arkansas, huh? My husband spent a bunch of childhood years in Fouke/Ashdown/Texarkana area. We lived there for a bit after we got married until I just couldn't take (his Dad?) the area anymore! Now we're in OK.
brought back memories of my friend Jeanna and I, climbing her walnut tree...falling down, often...and she even broke her arm...we were forbidden from climbing after that...but shhh, we did it anwyay ;-)
Kudos!
I used to consider myself an expert tree climber. I never fell from a tree, but I did get my foot stuck in the crook of the tree when I was five. A neighbor came by and dislodged my foot probably because he saw me screaming for help.
I've got a fearless climber on my hands too. He doesn't go up or down steps as much as he attacks them with brute force. And he'll go head first down slides at the park, he doesn't care.
Although it's tough, I've had to let him fall and hurt himself (minor situations, nothing major) a few times just to teach him about consequences.
He didn't learn much though, and was climbing shit five minutes later. Including the dog.
I climbed a tree one time and was afraid to get down! I was up there for hours!
When mine were fearless climbers I had to keep biting back gasps. I wanted to wrap them in bubble wrap to keep them from hurting themselves. They just climbed higher. Yes, I was one of those moms who stood at the bottom of the slide with a sick smile on her face waiting for her kids to get down safely. Most of the time, they did. Sometimes, well, tears would ensue.
Now when I see a fearless climber Braden's age, I still bite back gasps. Then I'm thankful mine aren't at that age anymore. My heart couldn't take it.
May Braden always be able to climb as high as he wants to go.
My #2 son was a climber. When he was about 2 years old, we were doing something in the front yard and he got on the roof of my car (by way of the front bumper and the hood) when I wasn't looking. One of his many narrow escapes from death over the years.
Do yourself a favor; bolt his bureau to the wall. Like, now!
I feel your pain. When I redid the living room in my house I did a floor to ceiling built-in bookshelf on this wall that was kind of in an odd place. We've been placing all our sons toys on the first two shelves. Well, now he likes to take down the bins that hold his toys, turn them over, step on them and climb up the bookcase. Craziness.
My 2-year has been a climber since he's been able to move around. I'm amazed by his skill.
It's amazing how growing up simply isn't enough, they want to climb up as well. The view from up there is so rewarding. My daughter is also a climber. We built a gym for a place to climb because I am not sure how safe our backyard trees are. Huh- just like a parent- worried about the safety factor. -Jason
All of the climbing and other dangerous behaviors toddlers engage in convinced me that when my mother said, "children have an angel watching over them" she was right!
I LIVED in the trees when I was a kid. Seriously, I was like a monkey! The thought of my kids doing things like that scares me though. Good luck keeping your monkey on the ground!
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