Climbing with a baby

[Ling]

Hi, anyone know of a group of mums/dads locally who go to the bouldering wall or indoor climbing centre with their baby? And if not, is anyone interested?

[slarti b]

I think Vauxwall do parent and toddler bouldering sessions ( I vaguely remember a poster in changing rooms) but not 100% sure.

[njc97]

Nice idea. I've seen couples with babies at the Arch in Bermondsey but not a group. It's a good idea: the kids like the soft mats!

[Ling]

Will look into the Vauxwall option.

The Arch biscuit factory had lots of floor space for strollers but I don't think the new building one does as much (I've not been to the renovated one since pregnant)

Would be great to know if their are climbers near here who'd be keen to try the climbing walls out babies in tow?

[Galileo]

We?ve been up to the Biscuit factory with toddlers in tow with our climbing buddies (who all now have kids of a similar age) and ended up getting the older ones to do a bit of bouldering themselves (they were about 3 or 4 at the time). The one with the newest baby stayed in the sofa area and supervised younger kids and the rest of us subbed in an out to help. It was great fun, tho tricky to stop the kids wandering under people climbing and risking getting fallen on but we did manage it.

We?ve had a third as has one lot of our other climbing buddies which makes it all more tricky now due to being outnumbered but we will give it a go again at some point soon.

There is a small wall at JAGS we?ve been meaning to try but I think it?s roped rather than bouldering.

We have once (for hubs birthday) had a babysitter and driven to the biscuit factory after bedtime. We got there about 8.30 and managed a good climbing session before being chucked out at 10. That worked well.

[Ling]

Sounds like a good way of doing it. Unfortunately altho lots of friends have babies they are not the ones who are into climbing. Need to convince them to get on with it ;)