You see in my neighborhood, there’s an alternative school that encourages children to climb trees.
Yep, it’s true. According to the “followers,” children are born with the right to climb that you should not violate.
If you don’t believe me, pay me a visit and I’ll show you a bunch of kids who are happily climbing up trees without a slight intervention from the parents. Chances are the kids who are up on a tree belong to that school.
To let you in on a secret, I do secretly hope that J and K would have the tree-climbing prowess those kids have. I slightly hinted to them they can do so. They have all my support.
But nothing happens. They are too scared to climb (Climbing is one thing, bitten by ants is another). Partly because there is no peer pressure, I guess.
That changed recently.
Two students from the school moved in next door recently and J and K made friends with them. They play together; they pat rabbits together; they cycle together; they play with tortoise together.
And of course, they climb tree together.
One day, J came in and announced proudly to me, “Daddy, I climbed up the mango tree!”
“Are you not scared of the fire ants?” I replied in shock.
“Nope.” And off she went to continue with her climbing adventure.
I giggled and said to myself, “That’s what I call the real childhood.”
In fact, K also followed suit. Though he climbs not as high as J. But that’s a good start.
What’s the big deal of a kid climbing up a tree? It’s no big deal if you ask me. But what’s great about it is it stirs up the fire of adventure in a child. It makes kids to be themselves and feel good about what they can do. And most of all, they have fun.
For more ways to bring up a child who can do more than climbing trees, check out “The Nonconformist’s Guide to Parenting.”
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