Tips for camping with children

[Christina]

Hello. I'm working on a blog post for my blog, Tiny Yellow Teardrop, and would love to get some tips from the parents out there on how to teardrop camp with infants and small children. Do you have any great information on how to keep them entertained, safe, well fed, etc. Also, how do most of you sleep with your children in the trailer? Thanks!

[bc toys]

Well I don't have small kids but do have 1 small grand baby I see lots of people camping with little kids and most of the ones that I see where the kids are having fun is they build boxes about 1ft w by 21/2ft l at a slope so you take 2 pieces of ply and cut it 12'' by 30'' and cut them from corner to corner and put a top piece on it with holes in it i've seen them hinged with the same thing that people use on their galleys. with a latch on the other end a caring handles on them they make bean bags to toss about 15ft apart from each other. As far as for sleeping I'm already trying to come up with way to make bed for baby in my cargo trailer ya i know its got more room then a tear-drop does but I want her to have a safe bed area that see can't fall out of. Hope this helps you with your blog

[vwool]

I look forward to this post, we have a 13 month old and I look forward to camping in our TD with her.

[Tucguy]

I am getting ready to spring camp with my wife and our three year old daughter in our 5 wide platform Little Guy.They are from a different part of the world and only came here last Halloween. We have glamped in it recently to see how we fit. My daughter uses about half of the queen sized bed and must be re-positioned during the night for our comfort. I see napping during the day as the way to supplement our somewhat broken sleep during the night. I have always boondocked and that is still the plan. I will purchase some kind of portapotty to use in our side tent. One of my major considerations has been the cold mornings and evenings and have always used my side tent and I have a 10' X 10' Napier Sportz SUV tent over the hatch. In the evenings, I move from one to the other and use a Coleman cats eye heater to warm them. Venting carefully is the most important thing. Absolutely no use when there is a chance of falling asleep with the heater on. I am concerned about rattlesnakes here in the southwest as being a danger to talk to them about. They are excited about camping and I think this is going to be most enjoyable. The Chiricahua Mts of far SE Arizona and the Gila Wilderness north of Silver City NM, are my favorite places, each about a three hour drive from Tucson.

[parnold]

Lot's of Duct Tape!

[Vedette]

Hi Christina
I still read your blog (posted to my favorites) twice a week, and marvel at how you can keep it interesting each week!
Thanks for sharing your adventures and knowledge with us!
Now that being said........we no longer camp with small children, but hope to very soon again. We now have 3 grandchildren that will be camping sson.
But......I used to camp with my three children a lot when they were young. We were tenters, but did progress all the way up to the Motorhome status (hated it!).
Also as a cub and scout leader I have camped with large groups of kids.
Camping is simple! Keep it that way! Kids will find lots to do on there own in almost any circumstance.
Just preach and follow three simple rules:
- Stay dry.
- stay warm
- stay clean
Yes there are many more rules that need to apply while camping with kids, especially for safety reasons.
But, it is easy to stay safe and happy while enjoying camping, if you are clean, dry, and warm!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

Ready for the next phase of camping.............with Grandchildren!

[Redneck Teepee]

Lot's of Duct Tape!

Ha! Ha! Good Call! Just Kidden...still funny though!

[Verna]

A bicycle, small car/truck toys, use of the campground playground and Saturday morning cartoons while I showered kept my 4 1/2 yr old great nephew occupied last fall. He had half of of the Queen-sized bed, so no problems there. Safety--he was in my sight , or with friend's children at all times. He either went into the women's restroom with me, or into the men 's restroom with a 10 year old-- no exceptions there. I made sure I had food that he would eat, and he played so much that he was hungry. And he fell asleep quickly, too.

[The Teardrop Nanny]

Best advice I can give came from camping in Hawaii:
In the morning put your child's T-shirt on inside out/backward. Then you switch it around as the day (and spills) goes on.

A fun to eat treat, which also amazes kids is to make your own Ziplock bag ice cream.

Make a weatherproof toilet paper holder for your child. Seal a roll of toilet paper in a half-gallon self-sealing plastic Ziplock bag. Cut a slit in the bottom of the bag and pull the loose end of the paper through it. Poke two holes on each side of the bag and run a piece of string through one hole, through the TP tube, and out other side through the other hole. Tie the ends in a knot. You can hang it on a branch by your pit toilet, or hang it around neck where it is easy to reach when going potty.
(But don't leave it around neck when you walk around camp...... )


Also like to take an impression of the child's footprint (shoe) on a piece of foil so you can track 'em down later. We have a hide n seek game where you leave trail markings to try and find the individual(s) hiding. Teach symbols using stacked stones, twigs, grass tips tied together, etc. that are traditional, but kids like to make up their own when we do this. Another signal game involves using a flashlight (or tapping rocks together) to communicate with Morse Code (a series of dots/dashes).

One of the all time favorites is a Nature Scavenger Hunt. I keep a list of commonly found outdoor items in a plastic sheet and give it to the kids to try and find items such as a trio of oddly shaped rocks, something that once came from a critter like a feather or bone, etc.

Let me know if you need anymore kid friendly treats/eats to make around the campfire.
Joanie
The Teardrop Nanny

[Socal Tom]

1) Kids get dirty, don't try and keep them clean, just clean them before bed and let them have fun
2) I've seen a group of kids spend 5 days digging a hole. I've seen a 5 year old perfectly entertained with a spoon and a bucket ( add water to up the fun), for a full day. You don't need to bring everytoy, or buy a ton of stuff. They have imaginations, with that and attention from their parents they will have fun.
3) Have a back up plan in case the weather goes bad. ( but keep it a secret, if you tell them you brought the IPAD, they will want to play with that instead of being outside).
4) Give your kids some attention. if you plan to ignore the kids and read a book, then don't be surprised if they don't have a good time.

Tom

[48Rob]

Joanie,

I love your post!!

Rob

[PKCSPT]

I will 3rd the duct tape,
My kids are grown up but now I take their kids camping or we all go together.
I always pick a park with something to do for kids, last year I took my granddaughter to Forestville Mystery cave state park.
A swim area is a plus and trails to walk, I let them choose the trail if there are enough. Kid friendly foods, I take books, reading and coloring that have to do with nature, a couple small teardrop size games and a deck of cards. Never get enough crazy 8's. Oh, I use a side tent that they can sleep in but still keeps them close.

[Shadow Catcher]

Two years ago we camped at Big Basin Redwoods State Park and my sister informed me I had camped there 60 years before when I was 3. Nancy and I tent camped until we bought the tear.

We first started camping with our kids in a large Kelty and eventually the two boys wanted their own tent and then the daughter got he own and we went down to a three person Kelty.
The kids grew up camping on the North shore of Lake Superior for a week each summer, less expensive than a day at Ceder Point for the five of us. Meals were cooked on the three burner Preway stove my parents bough in the thirties and we used the Coleman lantern they bought at the same time.
Meals, some typical camp food but we also had sour cream chicken and beef stroginof.
We do not believe that we are responsible for entertaining the kids, rescuing them, yes keeping them safe, wear a PFD when in the canoe or playing in Superior, throw rocks build sand castles, dam up the little stream when the could read lots of books. The provincial park had nightly movies and presentations.
Last year our daughter and her husband came up to LSPP for a couple of days and used our three person Kelty. Our first return in 13 years only a few moths after a nearly fatal heart attack for me.

[Catherine+twins]

For camping with toddlers, I found a play yard invaluable, especially at any time when I was cooking (breakfast, lunch, dinner....)

http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Infant-Sec ... s=dog+yard

Put them inside with a bucket and some pebbles, some sand, a spoon, a couple of plastic cars--beach toys. Oh, if you have two, double all that! Toddlers can play nicely next to each other, but they really aren't developmentally ready to share. Try to avoid playing with stuffies and blankies outside in the dirt. Kids can learn as early as 18 months that there are inside toys and outside toys. Keep the inside toys inside for bed time. Oh, also try to have two identical lovey blankets, just in case one gets dumped in a stream and isn't dry by bed time. (Since I had twins, we had LOTS of double sets. They eventually settled on DIFFERENT blankets that they loved, so I had two for each for emergencies and, of course, wash days. LOVED IT!!!)

At other times I kept them on kid-leashes. My mom had strong feelings on this, and I heard all through my childhood and then again when I had my own kids, about a child she babysat for when she was a teen whose shoulder was dislocated when his mother yanked him back to his feet after he tripped. Mom used a kid leash on all three of us siblings in the 60s, and bought me two kid-leashes as soon as mine started walking (actually running) in opposite directions as toddlers.

Don't plan long hikes the first few times you go camping. If you have an infant with you, a cuddle-type pack is appropriate but hard on your back. With toddlers, a rigid-frame pack is a must, and is great exercise. Remember, always turn back for camp while the child is happy. Once the kid gets whiny and over-tired, especially if you CAN'T carry him all the way back, it's just a recipe for unhappy noises and not-so-great memories. Children who sleep easily in a pack are a joy, but you can't count on that.

Remember you can get tired and whiny, too. Stop doing what ever you are doing before it isn't fun any more. If you give your kids time-outs when they start yelling, give yourself one when you do.

Remember, happy noises may be loud, but they are happy. Trying to make kids understand YOUR definition of having fun my just result in UNHAPPY noises, which are louder, longer, and more painful than happy noises. Change YOUR definition to understand that happy noises are SINGING as far as the toddler is concerned. Singing is good. Learn some silly campfire songs and sing along. Think songs about bears growling, dogs barking, and ducks quacking, that sort of thing.

Food needs to be familiar. To get kids ready for camping out, cook a few times in the back yard using your camp-cooking gear to make sure you can turn out the kid-friendly foods outside of your own kitchen. Make eating in the back yard a fun time! I'm a home cooker (very few convenience foods), and I can produce just about anything in camp that I can at home, including cake and cookies. My camp foods are NOT limited to hamburgers and hot dogs, etc. Yours should not be either.

EVERYONE needs to start the day with some protein. Sugary cereal leads to a sugar crash and whiny-ness. Even non-sugary cereals are often entirely refined carbs, which digest into sugars and lead to a carb-crash. Milk and most milk-like-beverages have protein, but some also contain a lot of sugar. Orange and apple juices have sugar/carbs. Yogurt has protein but often as much or more sugar than cereals. Camp breakfasts that include eggs/meat/potatoes/etc really do make sense, but should be introduced to children as "weekend" breakfasts before your first camping trip with them. Bacon does not count as a meat, it counts as a fat with flavor. OTOH, fat in the diet does make you feel full and holds off the sugar/carb crash longer. And it IS bacon! Just remember, moderation in all things.

I assume you want your kids/grandkids to enjoy camping with you. Start training yourself to say the POSITIVE thing rather than the negative. (Sadly, this takes practice, even if you think of yourself as a positive, loving parent/grandparent.)

When you hear a crash, DO SAY "Are you okay? Do you need some help?" Do NOT say "WHAT DID YOU BREAK?

When you hear a splash, DO SAY "Are you okay? How's the water? Do you need a towel?" Do NOT say "I TOLD YOU NOT TO PUSH YOUR SISTER IN THE LAKE!!!!!"

When you hear crying, DO SAY "Are you okay? Do you need a kiss?" Do NOT say "STOP CRYING OR I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT!!!!"

When someone says, "I need to go," DO SAY "Okay, let's go find the potty." Do NOT say "In a minute/15 minutes/when I finish (fill in the blank)" Someone will need a change of pants in no time.

When someone drops all of the dinnerware in the dirt, DO SAY, "Thank you for helping me set the table, but let's rinse those off before we eat." Do NOT say "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? GET AWAY FROM THE TABLE UNTIL I CALL YOU!!!! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO COOK DINNER????"

When there's a skunk/raccoon/bear outside the bath house, DO SAY, "Let's stay here and sing camp songs." Do NOT say "OMG, THERE'S A BEAR OUT THERE, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!"

And finally....

When you get home at the end of your camping trip, DO SAY, "Thank you for going camping with me. I hope we can go again soon." Do NOT say "THANK GOD WE'RE HOME!!!! WE'RE NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN IN THIS LIFETIME, IT WAS THE WORST EXPERIENCE IN MY LIFE!!!!"

Catherine

[cherokeegeorge]

At night I tie a string with a glow stick on it around their necks. You always know where they are. Haven't lost one yet.