Help for beginner

So, I am under 16 and do not have a drivers license quite yet, and I heavily rely on my parents to drive me to my local climbing gym. I’m hoping to get into outdoor climbing but my parents say I need to be better to do outdoor (I disagree but they are my ride so I have to go with it). Any way, does anyone have any tips for training and practicing at home other than climbing every tree that you can?? I cant find a cohesive answer anywhere and I was wondering if you guys would have any ideas.. Thanks!!

Where are you located?

If you can convince your parents to hire a guide to take you all out for a day and teach you all how to safely build and clean top rope anchors in a local area then they'll see (hopefully) that it doesn't require you to be better, just requires different skills (the gym is a lot more physical even at the earlier grades, while outdoor easier climbs are more mental, etc).

Lily, your parents aren't entirely wrong, and you aren't entirely right,  Increasing your gym skills won't make the transition to outdoor climbing any easier or safer, so they're wrong about that. Those of us who are older started straight away outdoors---because there were no climbing gyms. Honestly, mostly teaching ourselves and learning on the job, we went through a dangerous period (a few of us didn't make it), and it is hard to recommend that to anyone nowadays given the options that now exist.  

Climbing outdoors requires a large collection of skills required to manage risk---and make no mistake, the risks in outdoor climbing are greater than anything faced in the gym. The necessary additional skills aren't learned in the gym, so you might also be wrong if you don't realize how much you don't know yet. And if you are thinking of heading outdoors with folks you've met in the gym, there is a real concern that they might not be as knowledgeable as they should be, so nowadays it makes the most sense to start with a professional guide, as has already been recommended.

Have your parents read rgold’s post and ask for a day with a guide outdoors as a birthday present. 

If getting a guide is possible definitely recommend doing that for the first couple of times if you don’t have anyone you know you can trust to go outdoors with. I’ve mainly climbed in gyms or with people who have years of experience climbing outside and know personally so I feel safe climbing outdoors with them and have done my best to learn from them and now practice the systems at home and believe that if I went outside I wouldn’t get myself or partner hurt. The first time I climbed outdoors I didn’t have someone I knew very well but since they seemed competent I trusted them which led to me dislocating my shoulder, it was not the first time its come out but poor communication on both of our parts before and during the climb led to an unnecessary injury and could have been much worse if I hadn’t been able to get it back in myself. If you want to get something to practice at home you could try and get a rope, some QuickDraws and material to build an anchor with and just do that until you can do it properly so when you do climb outside you feel confident in those aspects. There are these fake hangers/bolts you can get online called practibolts ( denverclimbingcompany.com/p…) you can stick to your wall or you could buy some hangers and screw them into some wood and hang somewhere. Theres a ton of resources available online on how to safely build an anchor but if your just doing it by yourself at home without anyone who knows what their doing to check it you could very easily mess up some step and not realize it until its too late so getting a professional to teach you would be the best case scenario. 

Find a knowledgeable mentor with kids your age and go climb outside with them. Invite your parents.

Watch and read all you can about climbing and absorb it like a sponge. Surpass your mentor. Become their mentor.

Desert Rock Sports wrote:

Find a knowledgeable mentor with kids your age and go climb outside with them. Invite your parents.

Watch and read all you can about climbing and absorb it like a sponge. Surpass your mentor. Become their mentor.

This. For sure. Can you get to know kids your age at your gym with climbing parents? Maybe folks behind the desk can steer you that direction? Some gyms offer classes in anchor-building and other outdoor-oriented aspects of climbing. The guiding suggestion can be a good one too though guides (and the rules they have to follow) vary and may limit how much actual teaching they'll provide. A class in outdoor climbing may be better. Even if you're climbing harder than everyone else in the class, they should teach you critical skills that you're unlikely to learn or use in the gym.

Lily McIntosh wrote:

So, I am under 16 and do not have a drivers license quite yet, and I heavily rely on my parents to drive me to my local climbing gym. I’m hoping to get into outdoor climbing but my parents say I need to be better to do outdoor (I disagree but they are my ride so I have to go with it). Any way, does anyone have any tips for training and practicing at home other than climbing every tree that you can?? I cant find a cohesive answer anywhere and I was wondering if you guys would have any ideas.. Thanks!!

If your gym offers a sport anchor class, take it, but don't think you're ready after taking it.
If your gym offers a gym-to-crag outdoor experience, do it, but don't think you're ready to go out on your own.
Read this: https://americanalpineclub.myshopify.com/collections/aac-publications/products/2022-accidents-in-north-american-climbing-1 (either buy it or become an AAC member).
(It's not really a pleasant read but it will give you an idea of how serious you need to be and an idea of what to study)
Study up on the techniques for setting up a sport or toprope anchor, how to safely lower, how to safely belay etc.
Once you're prepared, hire a guide and YOU run the guide through what you would do and have them critique and check you. Ask every question you can think of no matter how small or basic you may think it is.