Shortly after we adopted our sons, we discovered they were avid tree climbers. We could hardly let them outdoors without finding them up in the trees. It was their way of getting a perspective that they would not get any other way. Thankfully, they never fell or seriously injured themselves.

In some ways, their love of climbing trees paralleled their physical growth those first few years. I am sure that this is partly due to their increased strength and agility as they put on weight. But there was a bliss in defying gravity and being fearless about the risks of being more than ten feet above the ground! And the yard was full of trees that were sturdy enough to allow them to climb high enough to get a bird’s-eye view of the neighborhood.

This love for climbing taught us many things about our adopted sons. One was that they needed the freedom to be able to “fly” on their own if they were to escape their past life in the orphanage. In addition to the many rules and restrictions placed on the children there, there was also a “law of the jungle” where the older children bullied the younger ones (including our sons). They had climbed trees at home before being placed in the orphanage, and so climbing them was a fun way to escape from reality.

Their gradual recovery from attachment disorder mirrored their belief that we intended to be their permanent parents. While they had a distorted view of love, they needed to know that we accepted them for who they were and were going to stand by them. Allowing them to climb the trees in our yard and explore the neighborhood in this way communicated this acceptance.

In addition, we saw that their growth in stature seemed to parallel the continued upward growth of the trees. It is easy to take the growth of trees for granted, yet we did not take the growth of sons for granted, whether physically, socially, or spiritually. However, we began to see that the placement of the trees in our yard was intentional, and that in order for them to continue to grow they needed our nourishment. The growth spurt that they hit was a product both of good nutrition and of intentional time spent with them.

So, the trees helped us our sons mature. They remind me that growth is a long process that requires input both from the parents and from the Heavenly Father above. In what ways have you seen your children be like trees? Please feel free to comment on this blog about your experiences.