Soaked: A Story with a Moral (For Parents and Children)

My parent's house is on the top of a hill. At the bottom of the hill is a dry creek bed. Growing up my brother and I spent a lot of time playing down the hill. One of our favorite places to play was in the dry creek bed, especially at the waterfall.

My baseball team - with some of my co-conspirators

The waterfall is a little cliff about 5 feet high. The limestone rocks are stacked so you can walk most of the five feet down like steps and then one large rock is like a steep ramp. We used this waterfall as a fort, a clubhouse, and just a resting place. When we had big storms, the kind that causes flooding, the dry creek bed became an actual creek. When there was water running in the creek that was the best.


When the water was running my brother and I would sneak down the hill. Mom would always yell after us to stay out of the creek. We never did. It never got deep enough to swim, but there would be enough to wade and splash. We always though Mom never knew.... We were stupid.

One time, when it had been pouring for days, the creek was running high. Some friends had ridden the bus home with us so my mom could take us to baseball practice. We had time before practice to play in the creek. We told mom we were going to play down the hill. She shouts, "Stay out of the creek." We didn't listen. We always planned to keep our clothes dry and we usually succeeded.

We went down to the creek.... The water was moving fast. The rocks were slick and we had been running through the creek like hooligans. One of my friends came up behind me and startled me.... and I fell. The water was about two feet deep. Which is enough water to soak you completely when you fall into it, when I say soak I mean completely and totally wet, head to toe.

Me at the "waterfall" last winter

We trudged back up the hill. Water dripped, sloshed, squished, and so on as I walked up the hill. When we got to my house there was no hiding that I was drenched. I walked into the house dripping water on the floor. Mom looked at me and says "I told y'all not to get in the creek." I responded with, "I slipped and fell in a puddle." This is a feasible thing for me. I am a huge klutz. I trip and fall often... But Mom knew better. We didn't get in much trouble. She looked at us and shook her head and sent me to change for practice.

We thought Mom was stupid. We thought she never had a clue that we always played in the creek when she said not to. Now that I am a mom, I know my own Little Bear does things I say not to and I realize some battles are not worth fighting. As a mom, I know him well enough to know he does them, but I have learned that you have to pick your battles and not all battles are worth fighting. So, moral of the story for kids: Parents are not as stupid as you think they are. Moral of the story for parents: Pick your battles, not every battle is worth fighting.