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Do kids climb trees anymore?

As a kid if I wanted a place to hide or play on my own with out being disturbed - I’d be straight up a tree.

If swear I spent most of August 1986 up a tree with a pocket full of Star Wars figures.
lonelyloner · 31-35, F
, you remind me my past days through your post , am born in early 90's and was brought up in my small village till my 17 and all around covered with hills and forest , so climbing trees was common for me , so many times i took my breakfast in a small bucket and tied up it with my body and climb tress and spend there for long , I did this to avoid mom and elder sister , most of time i get off my cloths and put in that bucket so i can climb trees so easily as cloths so many times disturbing me to climb freely
Adstar · 56-60, M
I made a point of showing my nephews and nieces tree climbing.. I turned it into a game / competition.. Where i lived we had over 100 trees and i would challenge them to climb a selected tree.. They loved climbing trees and got very good at it.. Better then i was when i was a kid.. Lucky their moms and dads where not there because they would probably be in a state of fear because of the height the kids got to..
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@Adstar Going up is relatively straightforward . . it's the getting back down that can be a source of alarm!
Adstar · 56-60, M
@SunshineGirl Yeah it's looking down and realizing how high you are that induces that fear / trpidation.. But kids work their way through that and the next time they do not experience the same level of fear.. Facing fears overcomes fears..
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
I could climb trees quite easily, even while wearing a dress. I made a rope swing from a branch of an ash tree by a pond on my grandparents farm and that was my 'being alone' place.

When we lived in the country there was a copse where my nieces, nephew and daughter played and made dens. It's not so easy in the city where we share space with others and have to be mindful of not damaging trees.
Adstar · 56-60, M
@SunshineGirl We had a very old horse hair rope swing.. I think it was used by our grand parents when they where kids..
gdon39 · 41-45, M
I bet a small few have any interest in climbing trees anymore
Thevy29 · 36-40, M
My brothers and I spent a good deal up a tree. We'd build tree houses, climb from one tree to another like monkeys.
As an adult though... Some Health and Safety A-hole had said it wasn't safe for kids to do that anymore. And so they stopped in my town at least.
Kstrong · 56-60, F
My son climbed trees into his early 20's, even at his sisters wedding for casual pictures of the groomsmen
@Kstrong I've heard of adults who join tree climbing clubs for pleasure. I say more power to them.
Kstrong · 56-60, F
@LordShadowfire gravity always lets you down, its the law... one of my college friends was a quadrapalegic after he fell from climbing a tree. This past March tried to provide life saving skills to a friend that fell from a tree, slamming down into the cement... EMTs stated it was instant death on impact and the longest 10 minutes of my life as i tried to keep oxygen to his brain if he survived that fall.....😢
Used to all the time.

But with age, good sense and the reality of a fall from even a small height, put an end to fun.
2cool4school · 46-50, F
Nope. Studies have shown that climbing tress leads to independent thinking and development of a sense of self worth that goes against the herd mentality. So you see…
Kstrong · 56-60, F
@2cool4school apparently not, its ok, all is good 👍
2cool4school · 46-50, F
@Kstrong ok 👌
I loved climbing trees too fortunately I didn’t have any falls that resulted in broken bones just bruises and scrapes. I also remember that the play equipment at schools and parks in my childhood was made of steel so it would last longer and we had tan bark as our “cushion” if needed. I broke my nose on the parallel bars at the elementary school playground that was 2 blocks away from my parents house when I was with my grandfather and he was not known for being very good with messy situations but he did wonderfully that day. It was my own fault for sitting on only one bar and having nothing more to stabilize myself I couldn’t stop my momentum when I realized that I was slipping all I could do was hold onto the bar as my face made solid contact with the other bar and my grandfather (just a step or two away) taking a picture with his favorite camera, a Polaroid, had to watch it all happen. Fortunately he stopped the bleeding quickly enough that I didn’t get the usual vomiting from too much blood going down the back of my throat and unsettling my stomach. I must’ve been 4-5 yo and I still remember it vividly.
I think having not much of a “safety net” taught my generation or the kids in my neighborhood (at least) that we need to be careful and confident about what we were doing because the mechanisms for injury were numerous.
Kstrong · 56-60, F
@2cool4school i learned at an early age, that gravity always lets you down, its the law, yes, we learn from past experiences. Dont run on a stone veranda near a stone wall.... be careful as you run, watch where you're going....
Scribbles · 31-35, F
Idk. I know I was always up in a tree as a kid.
Axeroberts · 56-60, M
We always did that.
deadgerbil · 22-25, M
I've never really climbed a tree

How do you climb a tree with no low hanging branches without a rope?
WintaTheAngle · 41-45, M
@deadgerbil I used to ever pull myself up on to a low branch or climb the trunk. I was skinny and light so I didn’t have to be strong. It got harder as I got older. Wherever the branches formed a V shape I would sit there, rather than crushing my nuts straddling it.

The first time I ever did it I was running away from a dog so there was no lack motivation.
deadgerbil · 22-25, M
@WintaTheAngle yeah climbing favors people with smaller builds
MethDozer · M
@deadgerbil you just kinda hug it and push up with your feet against the sides, hug it with your arms, then scooch your legs up,. Push your torso with your legs again. Just keep repeating.
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
Most don’t spend enough time outdoors to venture into such activities any more. It started with video games and now with phones and IPads they prefer to stay indoors mostly
No....I don't think they do .
Kids don't play outside much anymore unless a parent is overseeing what they do .

And I doubt any parent is gonna let their kid climb a tree.

But it's SO WORTH IT .

The last tree I climbed I think I was about 17 or 18, ( I hadn't done it for years) . It was a pine tree so it was really easy.

And it was amazing . I could see for miles and it was a different world up there .🤗
That's a good question. I really hope they do.
MethDozer · M
Kids that are allowed to usually seem to do it.

A lot of the shit we did as kids a lot of kids don't do anymore seems to me to stem from helicopter parents no ot letting them be free, uh ave unstructured/supervised play, and act scared they might get a little scuffed up. I see it a lot and I feel bad for the kids that grow up like that.

 
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