I'd recommend anyone curious about bouldering get into simply top rope climbing first. Bouldering is HARD which isn't so much the real problem, but it can also be frustrating. Some problem solving strategies like throwing yourself into the problem (metaphorically)can result in nasty injuries and a short bouldering career.
Starting easy is definitely sage advice, but I like recommending bouldering for the simple fact that you can just go. You don't have to start by scheduling ahead and paying for a class, coming back the next day to get a belay card, and then finding a partner with an agreeable schedule (or scheduling and paying for a gym-staff belayer).
Most gyms are catering heavily to beginners nowadays and offer tons of beginner problems. If you've never been bouldering before and curiosity strikes on a Saturday morning, you can literally drive to a gym, sign a waiver, rent shoes, and start climbing the walls, usually for about $25 or less depending on your location.
Of course, this isn't without risk. If anyone reading this decides to do it, take at least a few minutes to learn the gym etiquette and start slow!
When I take friends climbing for the first time, I start them on top-roping. That way they get used to how climbing works, without the fear of falling or having to learn how to climb down. (Down-climbing, even with extra handles, can be difficult when you've used up all of your energy getting to the top.) And they get to enjoy coming back down as a sort of victory lap.
After that, we go bouldering. There are plenty of intro and V1 problems they can do even on a first try, now that they've got a general introduction to the concepts. And I get to show off a few mid-grade problems to aspire to. (I'm only a V3-V4 climber myself.)
I prefer to boulder myself, because I can do it without any coordination. But you need somebody there to help you on your first day, and top-roping has a lot of advantages for new climbers.
Here in Fontainebleau, there are bouldering circuits in the forest set for the level of our three year old. (Seriously. Painted with little pink hearts next to the arrows).
They get used, too. Even for me, climbing pretty hard these days, I'll often run off and do an easy Blue or even easier Orange circuit just for the joy of movement over 40-80 nice problems, few of which would even get a V0 if you translated the grade across.
The difficulty scale goes as far as you want in either direction.
Can we compare difficulty levels with children? They seem to be naturally better at climbing at that age. Faster recovery period and their tendons and ligaments seem to be able to handle their small weights well.
* children are smaller, so holds in general are proportionally larger
* children may have a different lower and upper body ratio (they've got shorter legs than adults), making them better suited for climbing.
* Better flexibility/mobility
* don't have to be (re)taught how to play
* perchance better strength/weight ratio
* relatively fearless
* usually can find a enthusiastic peer group that isn't so centered around competition/jealousy (similar to, "knows how to play")
* A lot of kids I see at the gym have parents that have been climbing half their own lives, so they've got incredible coaching from a trusted source, and an amazing cheerleading section. They'll be climbing most of their lives, if they decided to keep it up.
The only real detriment may be that problems in a gym setting aren't always made for their sized bodies, so some of the moves may be a bit reachy. A children's general creativity could allow them to solve such issues though.
It seems to me that the learning curve is much more of a precipice, no? Of all the gym bouldering problems, only a few are rated for absolute beginners - the rest are much harder. Even the V-grade of, "0" is compared roughly to a 5.10 roped climb. In at least my bouldering space, you'll simply run out of things to do, quickly, as a beginner.
It may be also where I train, as the gym isn't one specifically geared towards beginners, the grades may not be as inflated as other places, and the route setters read like a who's-who of American sport climbers (Matty Hong, Jon Cardwell, etc).
I think it's just your gym. I don't know about your grading system but with 2 being walkable, my bouldering gym has about a dozen 3s, a dozen 4s and a couple dozen 5s. Routes are replaced monthly or so.
Wow! That's almost a bit of watering down of the activity!
But again, I'm in a climbing epicenter (Boulder), so I can go outside and find V1's that are nigh impossible for me to do. Problems that have been put up by people like Pat Ament, John Gill - there's still boulder problems put up 40+ years ago that still haven't had a second ascent.
I guess maybe my sentiment is also almost: bouldering should be hard. It's a problem! I would love to see footage of your 3's or 4's - I'm almost in disbelief.
I don't understand - are you surprised there are some easy routes? 3s are mostly for first timers and warming up. I'm not saying there aren't also difficult ones.
I'm surprised there's "a dozen" that are one step above, "walk-able" - absolutely! I'm used to 1 or 2 absolute beginner/warmup problems set.
I do believe my gym has a V15 set at the moment. I was watching Dave Graham unsuccessfully work a tricky V12. Pros winter over and live in the parking lot of this place.
I tried toprope but never really liked it, because heights are scary. You also need experienced people to secure you so you can't easily do it alone. Only once I got into bouldering did I discover that climbing can be fun.
It's different things to learn I guess. Heights are scary! But I feel it's something of a universal fear, like fire - or the dark. But you're on a rope, right? So there's nothing to be afraid of, and getting psychologically past that is something of a minor miracle, and a way to grow.
Finding a climbing buddy is one way that climbing can be social (there's also gyms set up w/auto belays).
The worst climbing injury I've ever succumbed to was bouldering. Chronic pain in my ankle from a fall. It's a safe enough hobby, but it's not impossible to be injury yourself (being as klutzy as me, helps!)
Getting that mileage, though, on a rope while going over easy terrain is a great way to build up confidence and allow those slow-developing tendons to get stronger, so that you can pull harder bouldering, and not kill yourself (spoken from experience!)
Get some easy climbing mileage!