Hitting the Water

       Today my little family was inviting to go creeking by a good friend of ours. She was going have her son and a few of her family’s kids. Now, my kids love playing in the water in the bathtub but don’t have much experience in outdoor free flowing water. I didn’t know if they would freak out about it being cold, if they would be scared, or if they would absolutely love it.

         My husband and I take them down to a shallow part of the creek and start with putting their feet in the water. My oldest got upset and wouldn’t let go of my husband for the first thirty minutes we were there. I dipped the babies toes and he scrunched up to avoid the chilly water. I eventually just sat him down in a little puddle and right away he started splashing and giggling. It wasn’t until we moved further up steam that my oldest started to ease up and have fun.

        Once we moved up stream my job was to watch the baby, make sure he wasn’t chewing on rocks, he didn’t slip and fall. But I also had time to skip some awesome rocks perfect for skipping, so flat and thin. Before long we were all walking in the creek, skipping rocks, looking for bugs and other critters and splashing around. My oldest was running around loving his time at the creek, it was as if he was never upset to begin with.

        It can seem challenging, scary, and sometimes impossible to do little adventures like this with kids that are so small. But, I want to encourage you to try with your kids. Taking these adventures with them will broaden there horizons, and help them learn at a young age about the world around them and how we should treat it and appreciate it.