Camping with kids: Tips on keeping it fun

Camping with the family brings to mind a better, simpler time. You know, a time when adults were forever in danger of setting fire to entire forests because everyone smoked like a chimney and flicked the butts – “They decompose,” my dad used to say, and since that was in the ’70s, it’s safe to assume they finally have – and moms always brought along 25 Tupperware containers filled with Jell-O salads and deviled eggs in varying stages of watery deconstruction.


Nowadays, we can take our laptops with us and hardly disconnect from our everyday worlds, which is a shame, because camping is good for the technologically saturated soul.

But camping is especially good for kids, so if you can get them to take their earbuds out for five minutes to listen to a bullfrog calling out at dusk, or convince them that hiking to the top of a peak is not just character-building, but lets you see three states from the summit, they usually will think it’s kind of cool. They absolutely will not admit this until they are 35 and want to sell off their own children, however. You must be patient.

There are four areas where paying special attention will increase the chances of a successful trip. The definition of which is: One in which everyone is still speaking to each other at the end – or at least the adults. If you have teens, you know there just are no guarantees.

Food
Hungry kids are unhappy, uncooperative kids. There seems to be no such thing as too many snacks on a camping trip. If you’re concerned about sugar and salt intake, pack favorite nuts or trail mix, protein-packed granola bars, cut-up fruit and vegetables with healthy dips and just a few treasured “bad for you” tidbits that can be saved for when you can’t get the grill fired up and dinner takes three hours.

If you’re headed away from the camp on an activity, be sure to pack as much non-perishable food for the group that will hold everyone in case you get held up. The bottom line: You always want to have something to hand out if things take longer than you intend…and things always take longer.

Activities
Adults have a tendency to over-plan, and then when kids get involved in something that truly absorbs them the big people get cranky about not sticking to the schedule. Be flexible. Attempt no more than one event per day, and if possible, have at least one day on a trip that has nothing planned. That way, if the group discovers something appealing along the way, you have a slot for it and everyone feels involved. In addition, kids on camping trips often become completely enthralled by the most mundane things – skipping stones, chasing bugs, collecting leaves.

Also, be OK with letting go of things that are important to you to maintain a willing and cheerful group dynamic. If an attraction or activity is that important to you, initiate negotiations that let each person on the trip be heard. For example, if there’s only one day left and you’ve spent your whole life dreaming of one day visiting the Unmatched Sock Museum, but everybody else would rather go swimming in the lake, discuss separating, working out time to do both or some other mutually agreeable plan. The important thing, though, is that everyone has a say.

Distractions
Drive time is usually whine time. For small children, pack an individual bucket, backpack or container filled with games, snacks and toys, and it’s a bonus if one or two inexpensive items can be new. Older kids appreciate their own snacks and magazines, hand-held electronics (Target sells $10 versions of Hangman, ConnectFour and other popular games) and disposable cameras. Secretly stash a back-up bag of old favorite games, toys and magazines, because they will run through the first set in, oh, about fifteen minutes.

Most importantly, as soon as you arrive, let everyone unwind, stretch their legs and shake it off as much as possible. Most kids resist going right from the car or RV to a tour of “some stupid monument.”

Sleep
By day three of a multi-day camping trip, the thing that usually causes the most trouble is a lack of sleep – on everyone’s part. The adults get just as cranky as the kids, and then no one is having any fun. It’s tough to get everyone to go to bed when there are so many exciting nighttime things happening: fire, s’mores, weird bug and other critter noises, and just the unfamiliar surroundings. Younger kids especially can be subject to a second – and maybe even third – wind right before you want them to settle down.

The best approach is to stick as close to the usual (summer, non-school-time) bedtimes as possible. They probably won’t fall asleep right away, but going through the routines of teeth-brushing, face-washing and putting on pajamas often starts to trigger sleep responses. Give everybody their own flashlight so they feel safe about going to sleep in the dark, and so they have one to grab in the middle of the night if nature calls. Insist that everyone get into sleeping bags or bed, and encourage quiet talking.

If by the third or fourth day, everyone is ragged, it’s time to reassess – and definitely consider scaling back. Otherwise, it would have been less stressful to stay home! And p.s., no one ever looks like the family in the clip art. Ever. And that's OK.

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.