As an adult looking back on your childhood, what was your favorite thing to do after school or even just over weekends with your parents, family and friends? Some will answer, picnics in the park, playing hop-scotch, or just running around with no worries in the world. If you ask a child today what he or she wants to do in their free time, it would probably be “watch TV or play on my PSP”. The days of choosing a toy for the outdoors, is long gone and something of the past, not even speaking of climbing a tree.
There have been a lot of different discussions regarding children and spending their time climbing trees. It ranges from safety issues to reality that families tend to live in sub-burbs where children are not being given the choice to climb and play in trees.
During early childhood children have the need for adventure, discovering new things and taking on new challenges. This is visible in how children start crawling and pulling themselves up against things in their quest to start walking. Climbing a tree creates a set of challenges that ordinary climbing apparatus don’t necessarily do, these challenges are being set and children have the opportunity to take them on and find their own solutions. It is also clear that children sometimes prefer playing with something that’s more natural or not that extraordinary, for example : How many times did you buy the most expensive gift and you child ends up having more fun playing with the box; taking it apart and building something new, or just by climbing in and out of it.
But what are the advantages of climbing a tree? The following things develop because of climbing trees: Balance, upper body strength, an idea of what their body is capable of doing, problem solving and confidence just to name a view. It is also true that when children are prevented to climb trees it has a big impact on physical well-being, ADHD, learning ability, creativity, psychological and spiritual health. It is also true that it’s is not just climbing trees but things like rolling down a hill, riding a bike and playing hide and seek that has an impact on these developing issues with toddlers. Is this maybe not the reason why teachers are more likely to complain about these issues when they are telling stories about their teaching experiences? Because the playing of traditional outdoor games is on its way to being instinct, so too a fully well developed; -mentally and -physically, young child is following in its footsteps.
Coming back to the safety issue, yes you don’t want to encourage your child in attempting things that could put them in danger. But we can’t prevent them from trying new things because we want to protect them from a few bumps and bruises. At the end of the day all the tears and scars teaches a child to stand up and try again. Research shows that parents admit to not having time with their busy schedules to play with their children outside or that they don’t feel fit to play with them. Playing can be described as one of the most natural things, and I encourage parents to see it as a natural process, and not a thing to be good at to succeed in it. See it as a stress reliever for oneself and an investment in your child’s development and well-being.
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