Children are fascinated by fruit trees.  Simple.  Not flowering trees because flowers are not juicy or delicious.  But ripe fruits are.  Perhaps, it’s more accurate to say that children are obsessed with fruit trees.  Or is it the fruit trees that are obsessed with children? If they (fruit trees, not children) could talk, maybe they could make a different case, but from my perspective, kids harass fruit trees, not the other way round.

I hope.

Regardless of where you grew up, chances are you’ve heard stories of children climbing fences to steal fruits from their neighbors’ trees.  If you haven’t, then maybe you were the protagonist, i.e. the main character scaling fences and climbing trees just to deprive them of fruits.  Yes, sometimes you don’t even need to climb the trees.  You can use sticks and stones to knock down the fruits or shake the branches so the fruits fall off if they’re ripe enough.

You get the picture.

Children and Fruit trees: a match made in heaven.  Stories, cartoons and movies have all explored this “phenomenon.”

So, the next question is why.  Why are children obsessed with fruit trees? I thought about it and came up with five possible reasons.  Feel free to add your own.

1. The Forbidden is Alluring; and Your Neighbor’s Fruit Trees are Forbidden

The forbidden is enticing.  Don’t believe me? Ask Eve.

If you put the word “Don’t” in front of any instruction to a child, you’ve just invited the child to break that rule. So if you say “Don’t pluck apples or oranges or whatever fruits from Mr. Ojo’s tree,” guess where that child will go once you leave or when you’re not paying attention? That’s right, straight to Mr. Ojo’s mango tree.

Mischief just runs in their DNA.

2. The Haves versus the Have Nots

If your family owns a paw-paw tree, then it might not be a big deal when you see one elsewhere.  But if there’s no mango tree, for example, in your father’s compound, and your neighbor has one, and you’re under the age of 13, then maybe your neighbor’s mango tree isn’t safe from your eager fingers.

So, if for example, a child goes to visit family friends or relatives whose neighbor owns a large mango tree which just happens to spread its branches ever so generously over the fence, a curious child might be drawn to it.  Especially, if the child lives in a heavily urbanized neighborhood with little to no foliage.

But some children are just very greedy. Even if there are 100 mango trees in their yard, they will still wander to the neighbor’s one tree.  You know them.  Their eyes are never satisfied and their hands follow suit.

3. Neighbors’ Fruits are Riper, Better and Sweeter than Yours

Sometimes, life just isn’t fair.

It’s very possible that both you and your neighbor each own a mango tree.  However, the tree in your own yard never produces ripe mangoes.  They just stay green or maybe never even produce fruits all year round.  Believe me, these things happen.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, your neighbor’s mango tree blossoms, thrives and produces delicious fruits.

Now, if your neighbor has the fruitful mango tree, producing sweet ripe yellow mangoes at the right time of year, I assure you, children in that neighborhood won’t be the only ones harvesting the fruit. Birds and other animals (insects and little critters) will come for their share too.

Who no like better thing?

 4. Children Love Fruits; Fruit Trees are just Casualties

Yes, they may hate their vegetables, but children love candy, sweets and biscuits fruits.  Ripe ones.  And where do these fruits grow? On fruit trees!

So, climbing fruit trees is just a means to an end, ba?

5. The Call of Adventure atop Fruit Trees

Well, fruit trees can’t talk.  Except in movies or cartoons or Tales by Moonlight where everything, even the wind, has a voice.  If your tree has been talking to you, don’t answer.  It’s not normal.  And it can’t be telling you anything good.

So, when adventure comes calling, it won’t be in the hollow voice of a fruit tree.  I hope.  Climbing fruit trees just has adventure written all over it.  The sheer joy of climbing trees, even non-fruit trees, is something everyone should experience first hand.  Unless you’re scared of heights.

There you have it.  My take on children’s fascination with fruit trees.  What do you think? Any ideas?  Please share your thoughts.

*Image Credit: Veronica Olivotto on Flickr