In praise of climbing

Family on the run
Christine, Mathieu and their three children 

Follow the adventures of Christine Labrie's family. Trained as a historian and mother of three young children, I'm also a fan of adventure, the outdoors and gastronomy. For me, everything is exotic and worth the trip, from Laos to Chisasibi, and from the Canary Islands to Laval!

Once again, we're bringing you posts from a Sherbrooke family - two adults and three children - who spent a week in the Laval region during their summer vacation. Here's the fascinating story of their stay! 

If there's one phrase we're always telling our children, it's: "Don't climb up there". If it's not on the couch or the furniture, it's on us, the parents, and if you see us with our clothes all bent out of shape, it's probably because the children are constantly clinging to them.

In this, they are perfectly normal. Climbing is one of our earliest reflexes, and it's probably our current lifestyles, full of escalators and elevators, that prevent us from developing this talent.

For children, it's only at the park that they can really climb everywhere, depending, of course, on their parents' risk tolerance threshold. Whereas in the early days, we used to run in circles around the play modules to prevent every potential fall, today our strategy is rather to hide our eyes to avoid being afraid for them.

In short, the concept that would allow children to climb to their heart's content, and parents to avoid the constant fear of their offspring ending up in hospital, was the most urgent thing to address after, perhaps, global warming.

Well, now it's done with Clip 'n Climb (so we can devote all our energies to saving the world), an indoor climbing center where belaying is completely automatic. This means you can go climbing alone, if you don't have any friends available, or in a group, and race up the walls all at the same time.

Needless to say, we loved our hour of climbing! Within the first few minutes, we lost sight of Ulysse, only to find him a few minutes later at the top of a wall. No worries here, as the many staff on hand ensure that every climb is safe. As for Samuel and Eva, they climbed as high as they could, and Eva quickly abandoned the goal of climbing all the way to the top to devote herself entirely to the joys of abseiling.

Even us parents, who so often have to content ourselves with the role of spectators, were able to take part at the same time as our children this time, and we didn't miss out on the fun!

Last night, before going to bed, Samuel confided in us, his eyes shining, that he'd really enjoyed climbing. I guess we'll have to go back... a lot!

#experiencelaval #familleencavale