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Home
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Climbing Out of the Crib
by Tzippora Price
At sixteen months, my baby climbs out of her crib. In a
daring acrobatic feat, she swings her leg up almost to her
shoulder and gets over the bar the way you or I would get on
a bicycle. But at night, alone in the dark of her room, she
cries for me to come. What stops her from using the skill she
so easily uses during daylight hours? What stops all of us
from climbing out of the dark?
As a therapist, I see clients cut off from their own
strengths, unable to utilize them to free themselves. They
come to me as the expert, and I send them back to consult
with themselves. Just as I bear witness to my baby's
acrobatics, I bear proud witness to the process that my
clients ultimately use to free themselves.
But I, too, get trapped in my own crib at night. Sometimes I
am unable to listen, unable to hear, and the simple process
of communication baffles me, as I am unable to connect.
I think this experience of being cut off, of frozenness is
universal, but we have much to learn from the daylight hours
about how to carry our success into the night.
When my baby climbs out of her crib during the day, it is a
game. She does not define herself as stuck. Can our problems
be reframed as games, just part of the sport of living? How
can we reconnect with our playful childhood spirit to
overcome the boundaries of our environment and explore what
lurks beyond the familiar?
Tzippora Price, writer and family therapist, lives in
Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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