Start Them Early: Tips For Rock Climbing With Your Kids
As parents who live an active lifestyle, one of our biggest hopes is that our kids will take interest in similar hobbies. For those who rock climb, the idea of harnessing up the kids and climbing with them is the ultimate dream.
However, how do you start kids rock climbing?
Rock climbing isn’t an incredibly dangerous sport, but it can be risky for those who don’t know what they’re doing. With any sport or physical activity, there is always some risk of injury. However, with your kids, you want to limit that to a minimum as much as possible.
Aside from safety and injury prevention, there’s a lot more to know about getting your kids started early for rock climbing.
Check out these tips!
Kids Rock Climbing Tips
You can get your kids rock climbing at a very young age. In fact, toddlers are famous for climbing and getting themselves into trouble around the house!
You can harness that natural instinct and bring them to your local climbing gym. Obviously, they’re not going to be climbing outside of your reach from the ground, but it’s an excellent way to start developing skills at an early age.
Before you get started with any kid of any age, however, read through these tips!
1. Start Slow
No matter how old you get your kids rock climbing, remember to take it slow. Even an ambitious naturally talented kids may run into problems if they jet up the wall or rock face, only to learn that they are too afraid to get down.
They need a lot of practice at low levels before you should allow them to get too high. Then, you can slowly allow them to start climbing higher and higher. You can start at a rock climbing gym first if you prefer, but it isn’t necessary.
2. Be Patient
Being patient with your kids is vital to maintaining their interest in rock climbing. If you’re impatient with how slow they’re learning, their fear of heights, or the difficulty climbing, you’ll turn them off of climbing entirely.
Remember, you’re asking them to take part in something you love and hoping they’ll love it themselves. How you treat them and train them will directly reflect on how much they enjoy climbing with you.
3. Safety First
As a parent, when you get your kids rock climbing, safety is your first priority. No matter what age they are, proper climbing techniques and a strict policy on being safe are paramount.
As we suggested before, physical activities inherently have risks of injury. However, by taking the correct precautions, you can limit them.
4. Brings Snack and Toys
No one likes to be out on the rocks while they’re starving! Kids will enjoy it even less. Make sure you bring plenty of snacks for the whole family, or the younger kids will lose interest very quickly.
Additionally, you may want to consider bringing some toys and other forms of entertainment. This is especially true if you have kids under 10 years old. They can play with their toys (supervised) while the rest of the family goes up the rope a few more times.
5. Use the Right Gear
Finally, you want to make sure you have the right gear. This ties in well with the safety-first priority.
However, until you know if your kids will actually take interest in rock climbing before you invest in a ton of gear for them. While children’s rock climbing gear is less expensive, it’s not worth buying it if it will never get used.
Have Fun
No matter when you get your kids rock climbing, make sure you create a fun experience for them! If they stick with it, it can really boost their development and give them a lifelong hobby.
Take a look at the rest of our blog for more advice about climbing for kids and adults. Check out our story to get to know us more!