Rough Play

I was popular as a child, not for my sparkling personality, but because I was the proud possessor of a real tree swing. Now I know what you’re thinking: other kids in the neighborhood had swings or tires from tree branches. Ah, but no one else had a tree swing attached to a tree that had a fork from which four trunks extended to the sky, thus creating the perfect place from which to climb up and jump out of to gain maximum velocity.

Yes, this simple piece of wood with a rope inserted through a hole in the middle was, quite simply, paradise. Thirty years later, I can still remember the thrill of standing in the crook of the tree, board between my legs, hands on the rough rope, and then the jump back and up to catapult myself out of the tree and the glorious sensation of flying through the air.

Surprisingly, no one every got seriously hurt from the tree swing—and we played on it a lot. Even when the rope snapped once on the backswing and my friend fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, she only experience some scratches. Once my dad replaced rope, we were back in business. That tree is long gone in my parents' back yard, and none of our trees have branches low enough to set up a tree swing for our children.

Nowadays, we parents are more fearful that our children will get hurt doing most anything. Schools have rules about how high the playground equipment can be (and most have not the see-saws and soaring jungle gyms of my childhood). Parents encase children in all manner of knee and elbow pads and helmets for the simplest things. Yes, I’m a proponent of helmets for bike riding—but not for riding tricycles down the sidewalk.

I’m sad that there are no climb-worthy trees in our yard or neighborhood. I used to climb to the top of many trees in my neighborhood with my friends, loving the thrill of looking down on earth from a bird’s eye view.

Unfortunately, today’s child has not the experience with exploring “danger” like I and many of my contemporaries did. It was never truly dangerous, but there was that sense that we were conquering the world or something pretty close to it. We tested ourselves and saw that we could overcome our own fears in a myriad of ways as we climbed and soared.

For my kids, I encourage exploration and danger, in the sense that we give them freedom to try things that sometimes makes me a little bit uncomfortable. Not really dangerous, but just a little bit danger-filled so they can test their own mettle—and learn something about themselves in the process.

Until next time,

Sarah