Remember the days when you use to climb and climb and climb way up to the sky...?
Kids are drawn to trees, not to look at them or admire their beauty or even for shelter they are drawn to trees to climb. Recently I read an article about the difference in strength between kids now and over ten years ago. Apparently kids now are not as strong because of the lack of outside play they get. Apparently technology again is to blame with kid’s preferring to play computer games and watch TV indoors, sitting around for hours on end.
We had a wonderful, big Jacaranda tree in our backyard that my sister and I use to climb all the time. In fact it was the focal point of our garden. It was our imaginary fairy house, pirate ship and space ship. We would spend hours climbing up and down from one vantage point to another throwing our pretend anchors out, fishing from a branch and then making dinner from our pretend galley. Then we would set sail once again all from within our Jacaranda tree. We absolutely loved playing down there in our backyard where our minds and bodies were free to learn, to imagine and to grow strong. It was just my sister and I up a tree with our imaginations.
Let’s get our kids back outside into their own backyards or even better into our community backyards and start climbing trees again. I find it so refreshing observing the kids in our local playground scrambling up and down the huge paper bark trees playing hide and seek or just enjoying the sensation of getting to the highest point and being ‘on top of the world’. Although I believe today’s plastic playgrounds have in many respects replaced the humble backyard tree there is still that natural connection when a child sees a tree, a big, climbable tree, their eyes light up and the race in on…who will get there first to climb and climb and climb way up to the sky just like my sister and I use to do in our backyard.
Do you see many kids climbing trees in your neighbourhood? I would love to read your comments below, please share.
“Susan is a mum with a young family who has always had a passion for the natural world and living a healthy, chemical free life. She has spent the last 6 years in a quest to find the best certified organic products and produce for her family and the planet. She has several business interests now including a successful organic home business, www.organicfocus.net.”
Kids are drawn to trees, not to look at them or admire their beauty or even for shelter they are drawn to trees to climb. Recently I read an article about the difference in strength between kids now and over ten years ago. Apparently kids now are not as strong because of the lack of outside play they get. Apparently technology again is to blame with kid’s preferring to play computer games and watch TV indoors, sitting around for hours on end.
We had a wonderful, big Jacaranda tree in our backyard that my sister and I use to climb all the time. In fact it was the focal point of our garden. It was our imaginary fairy house, pirate ship and space ship. We would spend hours climbing up and down from one vantage point to another throwing our pretend anchors out, fishing from a branch and then making dinner from our pretend galley. Then we would set sail once again all from within our Jacaranda tree. We absolutely loved playing down there in our backyard where our minds and bodies were free to learn, to imagine and to grow strong. It was just my sister and I up a tree with our imaginations.
Let’s get our kids back outside into their own backyards or even better into our community backyards and start climbing trees again. I find it so refreshing observing the kids in our local playground scrambling up and down the huge paper bark trees playing hide and seek or just enjoying the sensation of getting to the highest point and being ‘on top of the world’. Although I believe today’s plastic playgrounds have in many respects replaced the humble backyard tree there is still that natural connection when a child sees a tree, a big, climbable tree, their eyes light up and the race in on…who will get there first to climb and climb and climb way up to the sky just like my sister and I use to do in our backyard.
Do you see many kids climbing trees in your neighbourhood? I would love to read your comments below, please share.
“Susan is a mum with a young family who has always had a passion for the natural world and living a healthy, chemical free life. She has spent the last 6 years in a quest to find the best certified organic products and produce for her family and the planet. She has several business interests now including a successful organic home business, www.organicfocus.net.”
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