Not Permitted For Tree Climbing

So, I'm a super big fan of picnics in Our Park. Yep, I capitalized that. I can see it from my porch, we have played in it since before we had kids and now we spend nearly every day after school there and also weekend days too. It's ours. The Mamas and our offspring, and if we're lucky, some of our significant others can spend 8 hours picnicking and frolicking and lazing there on a warm Friday afternoon-evening-nighttime. 

There is a climbing tree in this park that draws kids at a faster and more consistent rate than even the ice-cream truck, which somewhat futilely circles the park's perimeter. 

That's my big girl. At the top. She's hard to spot, but she's up there and she's also being as safe as she can be while she pushes her limits and feels her strength. I'm good with this. In fact, I'm really good with this. She is strong and she is capable and I'm proud of her for being so focused and sure about what she wants to do. From the time she was little (littler than now) she has been climbing and people have been scowling in my direction. Right now there is much debate about "free-range parenting" and "free-range kids" and that debate is not what this post is about. This is about letting our children be who they are and celebrating what makes them feel strong and important. 

On a day that was not the day of this picture the park rangers called out, "Ma'am, they need to come down now. You need to get them out of the tree."

Really?? "This park is not permitted for tree climbing," they told me. Again, really?! Hah hah hah! You must be joking. I even gave the ranger a playful punch on the shoulder, thinking we were having a good laugh. We weren't. "I won't ticket you." WTF?! "Today," he said to me. He won't ticket me today. I let that sink in. Seems to me that maybe his intention is to ticket me tomorrow or the next day. Well, bring it on! I will let my girl climb. I will let her stretch and pull and grow and be herself. She is a climber. She is lots of other things too, but sometimes, when we are at the park, she is a climber.