Ellie Farmer is quite a sight. At just 20 months old, she scales walls like a pro and has been at it since she was just 8 months old — before she even learned to walk.
I watch the videos of her with equal parts of awe and Oh my God someone get that baby down from that wall now. My children didn’t even ever climb out of their cribs, so I can’t imagine them climbing walls at that age, but good for her.
Her parents, Rachael and Zak Farmer, are enthusiastic climbers themselves. In fact, Rachael climbed while she was pregnant with Ellie, and they built an 8-foot climbing wall next to her crib. So her passion was definitely prompted by her parents.
Of course, there are those who criticize, saying it’s not safe and calling out the family for taking such risks with their daughter’s life, but as Rachael said in a Facebook post reacting to critics, there are risks with anything. “Climbing comes with risks of getting injured but so does swinging around on monkey bars at the park, paying contact sports and walking down the sidewalk.”
Exactly. We can’t protect our children from everything, and encouraging them to follow passions, get active and take appropriate risks from a young age are all positive things. It also sounds like they take every precaution to keep her safe by spotting her, making sure she doesn’t climb too high and having soft mats below her for when she falls. So I’m going with awesome on this one. Go, Ellie, go.
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