Why kids should branch out and build tree houses

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By Jan Faull
Special to The Seattle Times

Did you build a tree house when you were a kid?

While your home in the branches probably wasn't an architectural
wonder, you probably had a memorable time planning, acquiring the
materials and building it. You likely felt competent and in control,
making adjustments as the structure progressed. Kids are driven to take
on such a project because it somehow satisfies their need to utilize
their growing developmental skills. They're able to try building a
structure they've fantasized about living in or at least sleeping in on
a warm summer night.

While doing so, they imagine whether they'd be lonely or brave. They
also challenge themselves physically by carrying and hoisting boards to
the tree limbs and then pounding in nails to secure the structure.

The social challenge of the process likely provides the most benefit.
Kids face the challenges of problem-solving, negotiating, compromising
and making decisions without adult guidance. They're left to pick a
leader while calling on and using each other's emerging expertise. Deep
friendships usually form along with the project.

Kids between 8 and 10 years old begin the process of separating from
parents. Some do so with a sign on their bedroom door that reads, "Keep
Out." Others form secret clubs. Many yearn to take on the challenge of
building a camp in the woods or a tree house in the backyard.

Will your kids have the opportunity for such an adventure? One mom said
she had built a tree house with her sister, but she would not support
her children's interest in building such a structure, because she's
afraid they'd fall or pound a nail in a finger. Other parents might
fear that unsupervised youth building a tree house in the woods might
attract adults that would do them harm.

Today, parents might hope for a summer day camp where the kids are
commissioned to build a tree house with the plans, supplies and
organization provided by camp counselors who would oversee the project.
Such an experience, although possibly valuable on one level, would be
absurd on another. What kids this age truly seek is the freedom to
tackle such projects on their own, whether they finish them, serve a
purpose or look respectable.

If you question the value of time spent building a free-form tree
house, consider that the builders have the opportunity to learn about
lumber, the importance of bracing the structure, hinges, nails, screws,
ladders, pulleys, framing for windows and doors, sloping the roof to
shed rain, the strength of materials, how to use a handsaw, the
importance of measurement and how body size relates to the tree and the
house it sits in.

Even if the structure is only a few slabs of lumber hammered into a
tree where the builders take their lunch and view the neighborhood from
this perspective, it's still a gratifying memorable experience.

If you'd like your children to have a tree-house building experience
outside your backyard, but worry about predators, go with them to keep
an eye on lurkers in the woods. If you provide such protection, take a
book to read, and resist the tendency to take over the project.
Building a tree house by adult standards rather than kids' is far less
meaningful to the young builders.

With kids today spending so much time hooked up to technology, parents
need to take on the challenge of endorsing opportunities for safe
adventures in natural settings. If you question the need of kids to do
so, read Richard Louv's book "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our
Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" ($13.95, Algonquin Books of
Chapel Hill).

Jan Faull, a specialist in child development and behavior, answers
questions of general interest in her column. You can write to: Jan
Faull, c/o Families, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111.
More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists