UKC

Evening All

A formerly keen climber but climbing has been on hold since the birth of my first child. I have three kids now so it’s been about 10 years since I last climbed excluding the occasional indoor session. 

Now the kids are a bit older I’m hoping to take them out for some easy intro climbs. 
can anybody suggest suitable areas for this? I live in South Birmingham so decently located for various areas but the closer the better. Peaks, wales, wye etc

Any suggestions are much appreciated 

I'm not sure how far it is, but the best place for climbing with kids in the Southern Peak is probably  Harborough Rocks near Carsington Water. The brick factory is a drawback.

I imagine Windgather Rocks would be audio one of the closer ones. Always popular with families. It has a "picnic and climb" feel about it.

Excellent thank you cake!! They both look ideal 

Belay points at the top of Windgather are there, but you do sometimes have to look around a bit.

We used to go to Birchens a lot. The kids (8 of them with friends) loved scrambling on the big boulder at the top and crashing around in the ferns at the bottom. Depends how old yours are but if they're all under 10 actual roped climbing one at a time can sometimes be a bit dull for them.

And we learnt that they don't need to do different routes. For small kids the same one repeated was just as much fun and gave them more confidence.

Enjoy

At what age did you find your kids might be ready. Mine at 3 and 5 feel a million miles away, but all kids are different so interesting to hear at what age you've found they have the discipline to do what they are told, and the tenacity to keep trying and the resilience to deal with the most minor setbacks..

My kids needs longer. Much longer it would seem.

I've got my eye on Little Tryfan when they are old enough.

Mine were too young at 5 and 3 though I took them to the wall a few times. However at 7 and 9 they were quite into low level scrambling and we went up the ridge on Moel Siabod. So I don't think you are too far off. For actual climbing with belayer, indoors or out, I think maybe 10 or 11 before they are interested. My son enjoys the puzzle solving aspect now but still can't belay me though, so it's going to be a bit one sided for a couple of years I reckon.

Thanks guys. My kids are 5,7 and 9 so not a bad age to start I reckon. I’m just keen to start building a familiarity with the rock with them and see how they get on. 
It wouldn’t be a full on day of climbing just a day around some rocks which conveniently had a top rope set up.