We tried to take our 14 month old camping yesterday. We found a lovely state-run campground in the most middle of nowhere possible area and he had an awesome day hanging around camp and the beach on the nice little lake (I'm used to the Great Lakes so every other "lake" feels more like a pond). Dinner went well - he ate soup from my Stanley thermos.
But when we went to bed it all went south. He was at first totally confused, but even once he accepted it and tried to go to sleep, he clearly just couldn't get comfortable. The ground being sloped was the biggest problem, I think. So after 90 minutes of trying without luck to get him to sleep, we loaded up and drove home through Appalachia in the dark and he slept in his own bed.
We’ve bailed on camping trips too with young ones. Camping with kids is great but the prep, packing, and then putting all the gear back afterwards adds hours of work on top of childcare. We’ve had the most successful trips when camping with another family. That way the kids can entertain each other and the parents can chill.
Just under two hours. It was an interesting drive home to go gradually from minimum to maximum population density, at least.
I anticipated that it might not work out, so we were sort of prepared to head home, though I was surprised by just how much he struggled. We'll give sleeping in the tent in the backyard a try.
We tried to take our 14 month old camping yesterday. We found a lovely state-run campground in the most middle of nowhere possible area and he had an awesome day hanging around camp and the beach on the nice little lake (I'm used to the Great Lakes so every other "lake" feels more like a pond). Dinner went well - he ate soup from my Stanley thermos.
But when we went to bed it all went south. He was at first totally confused, but even once he accepted it and tried to go to sleep, he clearly just couldn't get comfortable. The ground being sloped was the biggest problem, I think. So after 90 minutes of trying without luck to get him to sleep, we loaded up and drove home through Appalachia in the dark and he slept in his own bed.
We’ve bailed on camping trips too with young ones. Camping with kids is great but the prep, packing, and then putting all the gear back afterwards adds hours of work on top of childcare. We’ve had the most successful trips when camping with another family. That way the kids can entertain each other and the parents can chill.
That's a real adventure! Sleeping on an incline is rough even as an adult. How long was the drive home?
Just under two hours. It was an interesting drive home to go gradually from minimum to maximum population density, at least.
I anticipated that it might not work out, so we were sort of prepared to head home, though I was surprised by just how much he struggled. We'll give sleeping in the tent in the backyard a try.
Back yard tents are always fun. Did a lot of that growing up.