Maybe sometimes we don’t give children enough credit. When put to the test, many children are capable of things we’d never imagine. No, we’re not advocating putting your child at risk by letting them try things that could be dangerous. We’re just acknowledging that sometimes unfortunate situation arises where children have to do things some adults can’t even do.

For example, a 3-year-old boy in North Carolina wandered away from his grandmother’s house and was missing for 2 nights. The little boy even claims that he met a bear who stayed with him and helped him survive in the woods.

We don’t know about you, but we wouldn’t exactly feel safe if we saw a bear in the woods, but maybe she wanted to protect him as if he were her cub. Or, maybe there wasn’t a bear. Either way, he survived.

Then there are Caroline and Leia Carrico. They live with their parents Travis and Misty on 80 acres of land in Humbolt county in northern California. The girls love playing outside and going exploring. That’s why their parents weren’t too concerned when the little girls didn’t come home right away on a Friday afternoon.

As it got later and the sky started to get dark, Travis and Misty did start to worry, wondering where their precious daughters could be. They searched friends houses, other outdoor buildings, and really anywhere they could think of to look.

They weren’t the only ones searching. The community got involved, and the police were looking as well.

It wasn’t until Sunday morning, about 44 hours after they went missing, that the sisters were finally found about 1.5 miles away from home. They hadn’t meant to wander off. They were just going for a walk and ended up not knowing which way was home.

Leia is 8 years old, and her younger sister Caroline is only 5 years old. The sisters stuck together the entire weekend, and Leia used the wilderness training she learned in 4-H. She knew how to create shelter. She knew how to stay warm. She stayed awake most of the night to keep watch while her sister cried herself to sleep.

It’s really incredible how Leia was able to use the skills she learned to take care of herself and her little sister. Caroline is certainly lucky to have a big sister like Leia.

Watch the video below to hear the sisters explain how they survived in the wilderness all by themselves.

 

If you were lost in the wilderness for 2 days, would you know what to do?