Outdoor Kids: wading downstream in search of crawdads

I did not grow up wading in streams. I knew kids who did this, catching crawdads and other creepy crawlies, but that was all a little too exotic for me. So taking my kids to an urban stream for crawdad-hunting has never been on my radar until a friend told me that it was one of her favorite summer activities with her kids. My kids had their first introduction to crawdads last summer (thanks to a family friend) up at Mt. Hood's Timothy Lake, and my daughter has been eager to hone her catching skills ever since. I was a little unsure about my son, who I always think of as being more 'delicate.' Boy has he got me fooled.

We met up with our friends last week for our stream-forging initiation. The water was cold, thanks to the recent rains, but my son walked right in without hesitation, right up to his buttocks. The other kids were already immersed, scanning the water for rocks where the crustaceans might be hiding. My normally fearless daughter was more hesitant, but eventually got in and began scouting. My friend is an expert crawdad-hunter at this point and found a bunch for the kids. The kids put the crawdads in their buckets with some water and then eventually released them back into the stream. Of course, they had a blast. Like Renee mentioned last week, dirty kids are happy kids. Wet kids are happy kids, too.

Here at EnviroMom we talk a lot about how to make our children more comfortable in nature. What I'm realizing is that I'm the one who needs these excursions and 'introductions' just as much as my kids. While I have no problem getting filthy dirty doing yard work and encountering the occasional garden snake, my instincts in nature are more tentative. Who knows what could be lurking at the bottom of the stream? You want me to take the fish off of my own hook? How do you expect me to build that campfire? I'd love to go on a hike with you, but do bears live in these woods?

Just as we are teaching ourselves to unlearn bad habits and live a greener lifestyle, we are teaching ourselves how to be comfortable in nature so that our kids will grow up and carry that comfort with them throughout their lives. Do you find yourself in this category, too? Or are you a lifelong nature girl (or boy)?