Treehouse Story: Tree Climbing Before the Treehouse

Before the Treehouse, A Top-Roped Tree

So a few visitors who've read the treehouse build asked questions about how comfortable my daughter is with heights. The short answer is, she's better "up high" than anybody I know, young or old; she keeps her head, and knows what she can probably do, and what she probably can't. The longer answer is that she's been climbing things since she was tiny, and it's always been a struggle for us as parents to maintain a balance between encouraging that, letting her develop the skills to do something she's interested in, and keeping her from getting hurt. She's had a climbing harness pretty much since she was big enough to fit the smallest ones they make.

Well before we'd raised a single treehouse beam, my daughter climbed up and went down that tree, on a rope, over and over. In fact, as soon as I placed my anchor on my first day in the tree, she celebrated my triumphant return to the ground with "MY TURN! IT'S MY TURN NOW!!"

I found the footage her mom shot of her first time up in the tree. And before you ask, I'm drinking soda -- and only while she's not going anywhere. Enjoy. :)

Previous Treehouse Story: The Mystery of the Loose Cable