You might see a picture of someone hanging from a ridiculously tall cliff and think danger, adrenaline rush, fear, idiocy, or other fitting words, but probably family time would not be at the top of your list. I, on the other hand, think that rock climbing can be an excellent family activity. Let me give just a couple of reasons for this before you report me to Child Protective Services. First, many parents struggle to build bonds with their kids and to get their kids to build bonds with each other. Second, placing your children in a situation where they must trust each other completely has a way of building bonds that is beyond the reach of lectures. For these reasons, I would say that every family should own some rock climbing gear. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating for anyone to load up the minivan with rock climbing gear and head to Half Dome in Yosemite, but some reasonable rock climbing trips should be part of any family’s recreational repertoire.

You would be surprised how well kids can do on bouldering. When you go bouldering, you go find large boulders and climb them. In this way, you remain close to the ground. In a typical boulder field, you can find boulders of all different sizes and difficulty levels. This means that you can find boulders that will be appropriate for even very small kids. With small kids, an adult should be the only spotter. This is also a great time to reinforce the idea that as a parent, you will always be there for your children. For example, a child falls, and as you catch him, you say, “I will always be here to catch you when you fall.”

Cheesy, but effective. For these bouldering trips, the only rock climbing gear you need will be rock climbing helmets and possibly shoes. I would not recommend buying rock climbing shoes for young children unless you plan on using the same shoes as hand-me-downs for all your children. Children grow out of shoes too quickly to try to buy a new pair every few months just so a child has shoes to climb in. A pair of hiking boots will work well for children. When they are teenagers, and their feet stop growing as fast, then is the time to buy rock climbing shoes. As children get older and their climbing skills improve, they will be ready for bigger climbs.

You will need to buy more rock climbing gear. You will need ropes, locking carabiners, harnesses, climbing shoes, helmets, runners, carabiners, and anchors. As your children graduate from bouldering to top-rope climbing, they are also ready to take turns with belaying. This is where they begin to learn trust. When you are scaling a rock face, you want to know that your belay person will catch you no matter what. When you are belaying someone, the weight of trust they place in your hands reinforces the need to be responsible. These are valuable life lessons that are powerfully illustrated by taking children rock climbing. Lectures may not even be needed other than to reinforce what children have already learned as they were climbing.

If I have convinced you that rock climbing is a valuable family-bond-building activity, you will probably have questions about where to go for rock climbing gear. I can recommend both Black Diamond gear and Petzl climbing gear. Both companies are trusted by rock climbers everywhere. You should have no problem buying necessary equipment from them. As a final word, let me just say that my brothers and I still share strong bonds that we built as we went rock climbing together as teens. Rock climbing as a family works.