Okay, this may sound silly but my 6 year old ds has started climbing a tree which is in our front yard. He's very good at it. He can go about as far as are roof line (single story home). I want to let him do it; on the other hand I am afraid he is going to fall and get hurt.
Do you let your kids climb trees?

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 02:55 pm:

We climbed trees all the time when we were kids. My sister broke her arm when she crashed a bicycle, and she was climbing trees with the cast on her arm. LOL

I was raised in the country, and climbing trees was as natural as breathing. My kids climbed trees at the parks here. Did I worry? YES! Did they get hurt? No, everyone was just fine.

By Melanie on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 03:29 pm:

Absolutely. It's all part of being a kid. (And worrying is all part of being the mom!)

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 03:54 pm:

I would allow my kids to climb trees *if* we had any good trees to climb. We have lots of trees but they're all too tall to climb. Heck, I would climb with them! I have fond memories as a child of spending lots of time up in a particular maple tree in our yard.

By Colette on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 04:02 pm:

Definately, if you are worried set a height limit.

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 06:25 pm:

I climbed trees all the time when I was a kid. I used to hide in a tree when playing hide and seek, and fractured my elbow getting down from that tree.

I remember seeing my eldest one morning - he said, Mommy, look at me. I looked, and looked up, and said, that's nice, honey, now show me how you get down.

My decision was to help them pick their climbing trees carefully, watch them going up to be sure they were careful and that they could get down carefully, and close my eyes and pray. My thinking was, it is better to risk a broken arm than to never climb a tree.

On the other hand, we had a row of five very tall pine trees next door to one house, and pine trees are simply not safe climbing trees because the branches are too bendy unless you are right next to the trunk. So they were forbidden to climb the pine trees. So, of course, my youngest fell out of a pine tree. And when his father and I were berating him, this little 5 year old tearfully sobbed - doesn't anyone around here care if a kid gets hurt? Well - we looked at each other, bit our lips, hugged him, and stopped scolding. I will never forget that moment.

A few years later, late one night in the middle of a terrible rain storm, we heard a cat mewing pitifully, and a kitten was stuck up near the top of one of those pine trees (about 2-1/2 stories). I couldn't stand it, and very, very, very carefully climbed up the tree, very very carefully picked up the kitten - wearing leather gloves - and very very carefully put it in the backpack I wore, and brought it down to the ground. It was only after I got down to the ground that I was able to be scared, and boy was I scared.

By Bobbie on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 11:33 pm:

Let him climb. My kids climb everything and I climbed everything. But like Ginny said watch out for pine trees. I have an online friend who has a 6 year old. Had his first day of Kindergarten. That night he and his dad are out in the garden. B needs to use the restroom runs into the mud room with his boot treads full of mud. WHAM he is on the floor with his arm broke in three places... We can't prevent broken bones. All we can do is try to stay one step a head and let them test their wings... That is truely how they grow.......