The greatest gift you can give a kid is not an X-Box or video game, or a cell phone or even a trip to Disneyland. Instead, give a kid a creek to play in and the child will be a happy camper.
I remember a creek near Hopewell, VA. I was about 9 or 10 and staying a week with my Aunt Topsy and Uncle Jeffrey and I was bored out of my mind. Then, one afternoon, three or four neighborhood kids stopped by and asked if I’d like to join them on a trip to a nearby creek.
They had a net and some buckets, and I had some old tennis shoes I could wade in. We were off in a flash and enjoyed an afternoon of wonder. We caught small fish and crawdads and lots of unknown bugs. We saw a snake and an otter. We enjoyed the cool creek water on a hot summer afternoon. It was Kid Nirvana.
When I was a teenager, my buddies and I were off to various creeks in the mountains of West Virginia where we gathered bait for our fishing expeditions – minnows, crawfish, spring lizards or whatever creatures we could find that a fish might eat.
My children also loved playing in creeks – especially Angelin, my oldest daughter. We camped often at Singer’s Mountain Lake near Greenville and there was a small creek near our campsite. Angelin played for hours on end in that creek, collecting “critters” which she encased in plastic cups. Many of them made the trip back to Charlottesville with us.
Life is really simple. Give a kid a creek to play in and the worries of the world go away.
