1. - Don’t fight with your spouse in the middle of the night. Or, if you must fight, do so in whispers. Your tent is made of nylon. Soundproof, it’s not.
2. - Do remember to bring more than one flashlight. It just might be that you and one child, and your husband and the other child, have different evening agendas, and trying to decide who should get that flashlight and who should stumble around blindly in the dark is not easy. Or fun. Especially for the losers in the flashlight lottery.
3. - Don’t forget some cotton sheets if it’s going to be hot and humid, unless you enjoy sticking to the plastic surface of an airbed. Sleeping bags are going to make you sweat. Buckets. Even if you’re only lying on top of them.
4. - Do make sure your children are good and tired before trying to get them to fall asleep in a tent. Otherwise that tent is going to feel even smaller than it is.
5. - Don’t forget to bring your shoes inside the tent if it starts raining pouring.
6. - Do memorize (in advance) a short explanation for why there are no electrical outlets in tents. You will be reciting it more than once when fretful, insomniac children inquire about all things electronic.
7. - Don’t overpack. You’ll regret it when the belongings parked too close to the edges of the tent get soaked from a 3am thunderstorm.
8. - Do bring chairs. Enough for everyone. Or else you’ll hear about it. Oh, will you ever hear about it.
9. - Don’t bring a child who’s afraid of almost everything under the sun. By the time you’re through camping, he’ll have added a few new fears to the list.
10. - Do remember your sense of humor. You may well definitely will need it.
[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, camping, safety, prepared, preparation, tent, warm, dry[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by gadl, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
7 responses so far ↓
Megin Hatch // Aug 2, 2007 at 6:48 pm
This is a great list. We used to camp a lot B.C. Since the Punks we’ve only done it a couple of times. I am really looking forward to it in a couple more years… I just don’t think I am up for camping with a just barely 3 year old. SUCH a wimp, I know.
I would add: set the tent up for a couple of days at home prior to your adventure. If it’s not a brand new novelty it might easy the bedtime trauma.
christine // Aug 2, 2007 at 7:30 pm
#11 don’t camp with another family that doesn’t bring chairs for their kids when you bring chairs for yours. this (as we painfully learned) only leads to trouble!
Joy of course // Aug 2, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Hee Hee hee. I am not much of a camper, and so I haven’t taken my children. I often think they (well the older ones) would love it, and feel guilty. Somehow after reading this I feel less guilty.
LawyerMama // Aug 3, 2007 at 5:35 am
I haven’t been brave enough to try camping with the kiddos yet, mostly because of the nightmare that would be bed time!
Emily // Aug 3, 2007 at 6:42 am
This is why my husband insists that camping (when the kids are old enough) will be a MOMMY activity.
maggie // Aug 3, 2007 at 7:10 am
I would venture that one needs more than one flashlight per person - and with luck, some of them will be headlamps (the greatest invention since sliced bread).
Lisa // Aug 3, 2007 at 11:50 am
Do visit the dollar store for bubbles. It is amazing how much bubbles will amuse children and adults of all ages!
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