Why I Let My Kid Climb Up The Slide

The golden rule of the park is climb up the stairs and slide down the slide.  I guess we are rule breakers around here, within reason.  I let my kid climb up the slide, I even encourage it.  Of course, we don’t climb up the slide when others are going down the slide.  We climb the slide when it’s appropriate time and place, and not impacting others trying to use the slide.  I even encourage climbing up the slide in my practice as a physical therapist.

Climb The Slide - Pink Oatmeal

Benefits Of Climbing Up The Slide

Hamstring Strengthening – The hamstring is the muscle in the back of your thigh.  Climbing up the slide is an excellent way to get this hamstrings firing.  By getting your feet on the slide and hands holding onto the edges of the slide your hamstrings get a great work out.  The physical therapist in me loves this aspect of climbing the slide.

Core Strengthening – Climbing up the slide works the muscles in the center part of the body. They need to kick in to help with the process of getting up the slide.

Proprioceptive Input – Climbing up the slide is great for body awareness with input coming in through hands and feet!

It’s A Little Risky – As a mom, I’m okay with this.  I obviously monitor the process to make sure that nothing terrible is going to happen.  However, risk can be a good thing.  It’s a good way for my child to learn to monitor risks. When you think about it going down the slide is a little risky too!

Turn Taking – Understanding that climbing up the slide is something that shouldn’t be done when other kids are going down the slide.  We work with this on our little slide in the back yard.  All the little toddler neighbor boys are sliding down and climbing up.  We talk about when it is appropriate and when it is not working on an understanding of the needs of other kids and turn taking.

Sliding down is lots of fun too!

Sliding Down The Slide - Pink Oatmeal

 

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6 thoughts on “Why I Let My Kid Climb Up The Slide”

  1. I always told my daughter that she could climb up the slide as long as no one else was playing on the slide, so only when it was safe. The moment other children started playing on the slide it was time to stop. I think it set an idea of assessing a situation and determining certain conditions for certain behaviors. We like to tell children the rules in life are always constant, but many of them aren’t. Developing good judgment is tremendously important.

      1. YES!!!!! Many of my clients work on climbing up the slide for all the reasons given. It’s great to get both hands/arms working equally as well. And it is fun and usually ‘forbidden’

  2. I did not think of it like that! I always tell my children to never climb the slide because of the example it sets to other children within the park. I never thought about the physical impact it would have on my children. Climbing up the slide might just help my two year old with bandy legs and still abit uneasy on his legs. Thank you!

    1. It’s totally a call that each individual has to make but it seems to have worked well for us! I like to think of it as a good teaching time for my 2 year old too. He’s pretty good about not doing it when other kids are using the slide!

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