I have always had an idyllic picture in my head regarding camping. As a child, I wanted to go deep into the woods with my family, set up a tent, start a fire and have all kinds of magical outdoor experiences. I was not however, the child of a camping family. Instead, my only exposure to anything remotely truly camp-like was sleeping in a friend’s camper in her driveway or suffering through a week at one of the most miserable cabin camps for kids ever to exist. (I am not exaggerating… you can ask anyone who went there and they will tell you the same thing.)
Now that I am a Mom, I am finding myself with these wonderful images once again popping into my head. I want to take my kids camping. I want them to experience the simple joy that I am still convinced has to be part of the experience.
To that end, I asked for a tent for Christmas and I talked a friend into taking the idea for a test drive with me. We committed to a single night at Heuston Woods. You know how sometimes you get the idea in your head that an experience will be a certain way and then it just disappoints. This was not that. It was almost exactly what I wanted it to be. Maybe even better as the kids kept themselves much more amused than I thought they would thanks to the playground next to our camp site.
Lessons Learned:
It is important to go with like-minded people who will share the work and who have similar goals of the experience. I think this is a large part of why this experience was a positive one.- Don’t under-estimate the benefit of having official camping equipment. I will be adding a quality sleeping bag and better camp lighting to my Christmas list this year.
- Don’t over plan. The kids are really good at amusing themselves when given the open canvas of nature. There is no need to drag along a million things to keep them busy.
- If you have little ones who are potty-training or recently potty trained, bring your portable potty. This was a game changer to have at the camp site to minimize constant trips to the campground bathrooms.
- And ultimately, I was surprised by how much I want to start planning the next camping experience.
