Far too many stories of children missing in the woods end tragically.  But a 5-year old girl - feared drowned with her grandfather on a boating trip - startled searchers when she emerged from the woods naked and dazed but eating raspberries.

Other searchers had already pulled her grandfather’s body from the river just hours earlier.  Searchers couldn’t believe their eyes.  “What’s your name honey?”  The family just screamed in unison when they heard she was ALIVE.

As a precaution, the girl was taken to the hospital where she slept with her mother and her teddy bear for the night.  The next day, she said “I was scared during the night.  Everyone was gone.  I went searching all over the world for the cottage (where her grandparents lived).”

She had scratches on her face and body and dirt under her finger nails, and she had poison ivy on her legs and struggled to walk because of splinters and thorns in her feet.  The police believe the river’s current swept the girl away, but that she’d worked her way over to the river’s edge.  “She’s one tough little cookie,” said one officer.  She’d taken off her bathing suit because it was muddy and itchy.  

The surrounding area was all wilderness, with no homes, no lights, only populated with the wild things.  One family member said the area is widely known to be treacherous.  So how did THIS little girl survive?  A family friend taught the girl and her younger sisters about the outdoors.  That if you’re caught in the river’s current, don’t panic, just try to gradually work your way to the shore.  That you’ll float unless you start flailing your arms and not just working your way to shore gradually.  He also taught them to recognize the wild berries the little girl was found eating.

The lesson is simple: every child should be taught these basics about survival in the wild places.  Don’t panic if you’re suddenly alone.  If you’re caught in the river’s current, just try to move slowly toward shore.  Don’t fight the river.  Learn to recognize what can and cannot be eaten; what water to drink and not to drink.  Then try to move to an open spot where rescuers can find you.  This 5-year old did all of that, and was found alive.