Anyone been camping with the kids?

[jess_g]

I am thinking this might be a fun activity this summer. Has anyone done this with kids but without dh? I doubt my dh would ever go camping but I think it might be a great experience for the kids. Would it be safe to go without dh? It would be at a camping site and not just out in the woods by ourselves. Any tips about what to do with the kids while you are out there? I imagine we would have our car but no electricity. This would be with older kids (youngest would be 7).

Jessica.

[infomama]

Go for it. Camping is so much fun. We have graduated to a travel trailer but I grew up tent and pop up camping. 95% of our trips were the whole family but my Mom took us a few times when my Dad had to work and we had just as much fun.
If you want to ease into it choose a KOA or the like. Safe, family friendly and lots of creature comforts. Many tent sites actually do have electricity and water. We swim, ride bikes, take walks, attend some organized activities, throw a ball, sit by the fire (the best part).
Wouldn't trade the memories we make camping for the world.

[elephantmeg]

I sort of camp with the kids. We do a camping trip every year where DH spends the whole time at a seminar thing and is at camp very little. We join him with some stuff and my ILs generally are camping too but depending on the year are almost no help. Do you have any friends that camp that you could go along with? I think if your youngest is 7 then it should be fine. We've met lots of great people camping (some we even exchange christmas cards with!). It depends on the campground what we do. Some have paved paths and we ride bikes, walk the dogs, play on the playset, take nature hikes, draw on the pavement. Some are gravel so you can't draw. Some campgrounds have pools or lakes where you can swim/wade. We take the sand toys to play in the gravel/dirt with (but my kids are much younger). We also take the leapster etc for rainy days. Cooking over the fire is always a hit. Really camping is SO much fun!

[JBaxter]

I was camping with my oldest 2.. If it rains it royally SUCKS. The fire pit freaked me out with a toddler. Im NOT a camping fan.

[bubbaray]

We RV and DH tent camps with the kids. *I* would not feel safe camping by myself with the kids.

ETA: I wouldn't worry about the fire or the water, but my kids are used to both. The safety issue I would have would be personal safety, KWIM? I just would have a really hard time sleeping in a tent without a guy there.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I was camping with my oldest 2.. If it rains it royally SUCKS. The fire pit freaked me out with a toddler. Im NOT a camping fan.

:yeahthat:

We went along on a camping trip with friends this past fall and I think it is something I will try again but not till ds2 is older, like 6+yo. The fire had me on edge the whole time. Then there was darkness. And, the campsite my friends were staying at were right along the water. So, I would have been freaked about drowning. For that trip we stayed in a cabin- that's my kind of camping. Heat, electricity, bed, bath... :)

Beth

[trales]

We do it all the time. It is amazing.

[citymama]

Can you go with friends who have kids the same ages as yours? That's what I would advise. We've been camping with older dd, both parents plus another set of parents and their kid. It seemed like the right ratio, plus the kids entertained each other. Without your dh, that seems to be the way to go.

Camping with kids is fun!

[brittone2]

I grew up tent camping (slept in a full sized van w/ my parents when I was really young), progressing to camping with my parents in their travel trailer, to tent camping with DH, to eventually buying a pop up. We love it.

My kids love having a fire. When we were in NC we frequently camped at a beautiful lake in the summer and we would go for "toad walks" at night...there were always tons of toads and we'd take a flashlight walk around the campground and count/look at toads (my ds1 looooves toads; we call him the toad whisperer :wink2: ). The kids enjoy riding bikes around campground roads while we walk with them. When DH was in grad school we took a week each year and camped at a KOA near a beach, and that was a lot of fun for the kids-great pool, sprinkler park (both the pool and sprinkler park were seriously kept so nicely), and the facilities were very nice in general. They'll play in the dirt with toy vehicles. They always manage to stay busy (collecting pine cones, you name it...)

I would take the kids myself and feel safe, but YMMV. We don't usually camp in super isolated places, and the vast majority of the places we've camped have a night watchperson and require ID on your car to get in/out. Obviously there are no guarantees but I feel okay with camping. We often have our 85 lb shepherd mix with us too so that helps :wink2:

I probably couldn't deal with taking all 3 kids by myself right now, but as a family we'll take a few trips when the weather warms up a bit. If all 3 were older I would take them by myself.

All of our kids have been camping from the time they were 4-5 months old. We cosleep so they really tend to sleep fine as long as they are between us.

[StantonHyde]

Search for threads from the last couple of years-lots of good info on what to pack etc. We try to do tent camping at least one weekend per summer.

[JBaxter]

OH and make sure where ever you stay has good rated bath/ showers. NOTHING worse than a nasty shower room. ( can you tell we had less than stellar experiences )

[brittone2]

OH and make sure where ever you stay has good rated bath/ showers. NOTHING worse than a nasty shower room. ( can you tell we had less than stellar experiences )

And be ready for big spiders LOL. I've seen some huge ones in campground showers through the years :wink2:

[Mikey0709]

We've taken kids while they were REALLY little - but it's not TRUE camping.... we go to Yogi Bears Jellystone park! They have locations all across the USA and I actually just booked us again for a little weekend getaway.

A little hokey - but the kids LOVE it. (ages 3 & 5) We do flag raising with Yogi bear, train rides, arts & Crafts, swim, fish, glow stick parade, playground, outside movies, ice cream socials... and they ESPECIALLY love the GIANT JUMPING PILLOW some of the park's have. Each park is different - but mostly everything is included. They have THEME weekends.... and the next one we're going to is Ice Cream Social Weekend. I have certainly felt safe within these parks also - enough for me to go walking alone at night, etc. AND they have quiet time - so I can enjoy a fire with just my husband once the kids are in bed!

We have stayed at 2 different locations so far for quick weekends - and used a tent site. Our recommendation would be to do the same - - away from the RV sites where there are alot of REGULARS and it can get loud on the weekends. Each park has their positive/negatives - - but I read reviews and so far we have had a good time. Also - facitities have been pretty clean which was a HUGE plus. The one park we stayed the bathrooms and showers were IMMACULATE. I love the planned activities and that we don't have to leave the campground.... yet we have NO TV and spend quality time outdoors!

For this next weekend trip - i actually booked us a rustic cabin... thinking we would have more time to do stuff rather than taking the time to put up/take down our HUGE tent for 2 nights. The price also wasn't too different than a tent site since it's still pre-season until the end of June.

I just called to book it - and MOST of the cabins were already sold out. That was another issue for us last year.... every State Park we tried to get in was full every weekend for 3 months... so i guess you really have to plan early to camp in ideal locations!

Right now with little kids - Jellystone park works for us.... and this is coming from my EAGLE Scout husband who agrees! At least he gets his fix fishing... and sitting by a fire. When the kids are older we plan on doing more REAL camping.

[JBaxter]

And be ready for big spiders LOL. I've seen some huge ones in campground showers through the years :wink2:

And mosquitos For some reason when the boys went with their dad they got eaten ALIVE by bugs One trip the showers were so nasty I heated water and emptied out a rubber maid storage tub and bathed them on the picnic table.

Camper camping is much easier but the showers still skeeve me out