Fearless fun with rock-climbing baby

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It’s easy to be fearless when nothing bad has ever happened to you.

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Yeah, I mean, who does that baby think it is?!

Stupid babies!

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This is why we hire for smarts and not necessarily for experience :wink:

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Yeah, my kids would have happily tried this when they were in the “climbing everything they could find” phase. Which was right about the year and a half stage (this kid is 19 months old, according to the video description). Good for the parents for letting her explore (I presume the padding below her is quite extensive).

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Harness? I know this fearless baby would never fall but… Also I was glad that was a whole floor at the top and not just a ledge.

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Harness? There’s outdoor playground equipment taller than that, and with no pads at the base. Spotter maybe.

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There appears to be a big soft pad at the bottom of the wall.

Also glad there’s no mashy spike plates.

Eeeeh, they’re pretty bouncy, babies are.

The next level does have giant slow moving bullets. Pretty sure he can’t jump over them.

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Or do what my parents did with their five (all 50+ and still going strong): live and learn.

I say this as someone who had stitches on her head and on top of her kneecap before turning five. I remember both instances being traumatic at the time (really, it was the stitches), but I learned not to climb (head) and not to jump up and down steps covered with broken bottles (knee).

That kid might as well be my daughter! They look identical!

No harness and no spotter = needlessly putting your kid at risk. Even with an air-mattress below, you land on the back of your neck and it is all over. See, e.g., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2769810

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Don’t let the kid keep that habit, bad things happen…

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This is fairly old news in the climbing world, so…

Spotter is there just off cam. Doesn’t mean dangerous, just means good camera work.

Plenty of good padding below.

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The kid’s method is stellar, by the way. Climbs exactly like how they teach it. 3 points of contact at all times, if you get a little confused don’t just sit there in a high stress position. It’s okay to back down a little so you can comfortably look for a route up instead of clinging onto a tiny little nub until your grip gives out. Don’t worry about going up fast, just worry about going up.

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at 1:13 at the very top of the wall, let go with both hands and stood up straighter to put hands on the top.

The little tyke doesn’t have perfect form? Not to mention, the three points of contact thing is more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule. Personally the first time I watched it and saw her hesitating at the top I was thinking “come on, mantle buddy. mantle. Oh well, hey that looks like it worked too.”

Just to clarify - this little aspiring climber is a girl :wink:

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