Beach Survival Skills With Little Kids

For the past seven years we've taken family vacations in Southern California to visit with relatives. 

For the past seven years I have had no rest on the beautiful sandy shores of the Pacific Ocean. 

In the weeks leading up to the trip I would always dream of relaxing on my beach towel, cool drink in hand, rolling over ever now and then to grab a snack from my cute and tidy little whale patterned lunch sack. 

Somehow that dream never came to fruition once we hit the beach.

Usually, you'd find me chasing a toddler into the sea. Running after a preschooler down the coastline. Or picking up the trail of a young lad on his way to the snack shack.

Not anymore, my friends. 

I'm not sure why it took me so long, but on this trip I decided to take notes.

"Watch what the locals do, Judith, and do what they do," I repeated to myself as we shuffled our feet through the deep sand.

By doing so, we took a trip that normally leaves me feeling like this...

And made it into a trip that has left me feeling like this.

Through observation of the locals, I learned there are two simple strategies to surviving the beach with little kids.

Strategy #1: Bury the children.

Bury them deep and bury them often.

With legs immobilized under 10 pounds of sand, there is no more chasing Big Bubba down the coastline.

Make the child a race car and say goodbye to the endless requests for the snack shack.

Bury the girl in a whimsical horse castle and say hello to your beach towel, cold beverage and clean snacks.

Strategy #2: Dig a deep hole directly in front of your towel. And welcome endless hours of jumping, sliding, hiding, digging, and pure... simple... joy.

Better yet, encourage that strong lad of yours to dig the deep hole.

Digging so deep that he finds water keeps will keep him busy for hours.

Now Mama, watch yourself sink into that deep relaxation you've always dreamed about!

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Xavier Rudd - Mother