Quick, He’s Drowning!
Very dry lake bed.
Despite a drizzly start to the public holiday Monday it was a perfect day for an outing. We had planned a hike however, bush fires the week before put a halt on that. Then Mr Toddy fractured his elbow playing in the yard. We were feeling quite house bound so we decided to go to Yanchep National Park.
I knew that there would be space for the kids to run and play and nice shade for me to sit with Mr Toddy. Well he wasn’t going to have any of that sitting around stuff. Poor lil man, we walked over to the lake but it was gone! All dried up over summer. Then we walked over to the centre where I knew there would be a few koalas up trees, perhaps that would cheer him up. Nope. He wasn’t happy because they wouldn’t turn and say hello to him. I now gathered that poor Mr Toddy was possibly feeling a little depressed about being weighed down with a heavy plaster cast.
PB and I found a nice shady spot, took up residence on our backsides and told the kids they could play, within view. Mr Toddy wandered over to see what they were doing. They were measuring themselves against a water level stick which was totally exposed on (sadly) dried land. Then suddenly 4 voices began yelling.
“Quick, he’s drowning!”
At first we just smiled because we knew there was no water, so there’s no way anyone was drowning but then that ‘gut’ instinct kicked in. I stood up and headed rapidly in the direction of the kids, PB joined me. The kids were all pointing at Mr Toddy who had happily walked out onto the dried and leaf covered lake bed and promptly sunk!
Yep, he was knee-deep in mud and totally stuck. I stifled a laugh and praised the kids for raising the alarm. I decided not to tell them that drowning was not the correct word. Why? Because it’s one word that adults will take seriously and this could have been serious, especially if the mud was deep and softer. It’s taken a long time to teach the kids to respond to anyone in distress (Reminder; the kids have a variety of processing and learning disabilities).
PB walked out and extracted a ‘not so impressed‘ Mr Toddy, who was finding it rather funny to be stuck. Lucky for our wallets he came out with both shoes still attached.
No other kids were even interested in walking out on the lake bed and at first I thought it’s typical that my kids would. Then I thought, how sad! Today’s kids have no sense of adventure. I looked around the park and some kids were sitting playing on iPads, some were laying on blankets, some eating, a few on scooters. No one was running around laughing, playing hide and seek or trying to climb trees. While some may call this progress I call it sad! When I was a kid the first thing we would have done was want to explore the dried out lake bed with its amazing cracked mud.
Yes my kids may get stuck in the mud because of adventures but with adventure comes learning. Oh it also provides great stories for upcoming 21st birthdays or wedding speeches! 
Dad to the rescue
Panoramic of Yanchep National Park (lake)
Joining for #IBOT
