Skip to main content

Fishin' at the Creek



Many will disagree with me, but fishing is GROSS!  So when Stephen wanted to go fishing with his big brother Aaron I devised a string on a stick in the hopes of NOT catching anything.
Too bad you can't fool them forever. It didn't take long before Stephen realized everyone but him caught something, and that everyone but him had an actual rod and reel.
So even though it meant upgrading to poking a hook through a wiggling, slimy worm, then catching a fish and trying to disengage the hook from their lips, or worse, their throat, then argue about releasing the fish, or having it for dinner, then losing the argument and having your kitchen stink like..well, dead fish...well, even though it meant all those things, I bought him a nice rod and a tub of fat worms.

And it slowly turned into into relaxing afternoons by the lake with him fishing, and me sitting nearby with a book in one hand, and a wet wipe in the other.  (He often needs help getting those worms on the hook- as I may have mentioned, they are very slimy and very wriggly!)

Most of us have access to a body of water with things swimming in it- even if it's just a ditch- so I feel I can recommend this as an excellent hang out time with the kids.   They can experience the joy of independence and providing for the family (a very important part of growing up) and you can set a great book loving example by sitting nearby reading a great novel. 

And if you don't have access to water, perhaps this is a great place to plug a new group, Of Words And Water.  This is a group of writers I have joined forced with, and all have chosen to donate their talents to raising money for Water Aid.  It's the perfect win-win.  Donors can help out a cause for the sake of helping and not only feel the joy of being a healthy part of the human race, but also be given a gift in return...a book of entertaining short stories donated by these authors.  That's a win-win we can all be a part of!

I hope you can start small by simply "Liking" Of Words And Water and soon, after checking out their website and finding you agree with their goal, you can support the effort to provide water for all by donating whatever you choose and receiving an entertaining read in return.  

Once you're done checking out Of Words And Water, we'll get back to the bored Kids, and hopefully you'll be heading out for an adventure in fishing! 


*Annie Harmon writes children's picture books in both print and ebooks.  Her website is HoustonChildrensBooks

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Instruction manual for a Percy Jackson party

Ever decide to save money on a child’s birthday party and just throw the party yourself?  Year after year our parties graduated from hiring clowns and magicians to renting the go-cart range.   This year we wanted to put all the money into his present (a new computer since the old one was driving US crazy), and just have a nice at-home gathering of his friends.   The biggest problem- and I can see that now- is that I put myself in charge of planning it.   Stephen still wanted a cool party and...wait for it.... I am competitive.   Challenge Accepted! (I am also jonesing for the next How I Met Your Mother, if you hadn't caught onto that!) As I tried to decide on a theme, my soon to be ten year-old came up with the theme for me.   He wanted the Percy Jackson books to come to life.  Yay! Then I spent nearly two weeks coming up with Camp Half-blood ideas, scouring the internet for patterns and creating the items needed.  ...

Old Fashioned Taste Test: IBC or St. Arnold?

St. Arnold Brewery Stephen can't wait until school starts and his teacher asks the students what they did over the summer. He insists he is going to stand up, pump his fist in the air, and proclaim, "I went to a BREWERY!" The Parent of The Year award is always just outside of my grasp. When Grandma came to visit, my husband Eric made arrangements to amuse her. One of the things on the list was to take her to St. Arnold for a tour on brewing. It IS educational, so we brought Stephen along, and I was amazed at how many others came to the same conclusion. There were more kids on that tour than adults! Which may be why they served root beer free, while charging (on a 'chip' system) for their other brewed items.   So that's the setup for how we decided to do this week's activity. While trying out their root beer, Stephen decided it was the best he had ever tasted. Eric said IBC was still his favorite, and Grandma and I were undecided. So...

Five stages of grief when you're not getting anything done

With the use of Gallery Furniture's over-sized chair, Stephen comically acted out the five stages of grief.  Although he was pretending he had just discovered he had been shrunk to 1/4 his size, I thought it also illustrated the stages we parents go through to get a male child out the door for a day of "boring" shopping.   So, we got into the car and... Aside from buying furniture -  and yes, monkeys, I did mention monkeys - it was an educational trip, as well. I loved the huge tree slice they had, with the many rings listing historical events that occurred during the growth of those rings. And since Stephen has been home schooling this past year, it was nice to be able to pack a little physical education into the day with Gallery Furniture's nine-mattresses-large jumping pad. Now, back to the monkeys.   Every so often, they have a trainer bring out a monkey to play with the customers.   The day we went, they brought out Thor. ...