Overcoming Our Fears
As you have already heard, we’ve been field tripping up and down the Greater Vancouver area. The trips have been a blast, and our buddies have been chat, chat, chatting about them, non-stop. The teachers have even created a little photo collage of some of the days that we’ve been out and about, which has been great for keeping the adventures fresh.
The kids learn so much from everything they see and do! My favourite thing about the field trip program is introducing them to some of my favourite things: Vancouver sights, nature and culture, and sometimes, their own strengths and abilities.
Case in point: Our trip last week to the UBC Botanical Gardens, and in particular the Greenheart Canopy Walk. It’s a rope ladder and bridge that gives visitors access to our rainforest canopy, up to 20m high, and suspended from the trees without harming them. Which means ropes looped around the trees, and an unintrusive, lightweight walkway, high about the ground.
Denet and I were lucky to have a group of experienced adventurers – four three-year olds from the Big Kids Club, big four-year old Avery, and our sturdy field tripping toddler, Heron.
We caught the buses and made our connections like champions (our Broadway location sure makes transit easy!), and we got to UBC right on schedule.
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It was going well. We made it to the walkway with high energy and lots of excitement. I had prepped the kids on the idea that going up into the tree tops was a super special treat, alternating between stories of magical treehouses and the idea of getting to visit forest friends in their native habitats. We found the secret door in the forest and entered our code to climb the ropes.
We reached the first platform with almost no trouble. Suspended from ropes more than 20m above our heads, the walkway was swaying, and all the kids slowed down to keep their balance. The nets kept us safe, but some of the kids found it a bit scary.
By the time we reached the third platform, the group had split. The older kids were racing ahead to reach the next platforms, rocking with the ropes like the Swiss Family Robinson, while the two youngest of the group were losing interest.
In fact, my youngest buddies decided the third platform was as far as they wanted to go. With some tears, they also decided that returning the way we’d come was out of the question. The walkways were too wobbly, and the ground was too far away. They were going to stay at the third platform forever.
Admittedly, it was pretty scary! Even Denet was working to overcome her fear of heights, and to keep up with our eager beaver kids, she had to do it quickly!
So the rest of the group went on, and my littlest buddies and I sat down on the platform to figure out what we could do.
Even though we didn’t like it, we knew the way back would be wobbly.
It wasn’t possible for me to carry them, because it was narrow and I needed to be able to balance, too.
After weighing the options, the kids agreed that the only solution was to find our courage and make our way back. We would take it slowly…
At first, the courage came from me – hugs, lots of encouragement for each brave step, and appeals to their “big kid” spirits – but before long, they were self-motivating!
They showed me their bravest faces and, with one hand on the rope, and the other in mine, we wobbled all the way back to the second platform.
We did it!! What a thrill!
There was a huge group of ESL students from all over the world waiting at the bottom of the ramp when we popped out. I heard expressions of amazement in Spanish, English, and Japanese, at how courageous (and little!) our buddies were. When we put our hands in to do the Big Kids Club cheer, everyone around us clapped too.
I definitely want to go back someday to do the rest of the canopy walk, but no matter what I see there next time, it will never beat the experience of watching these kids develop their own inner strength.
