Family camping can be a real nightmare. But when you get it right, it can be a wonderful bonding experience that allows your family to have a lot of fun in the great outdoors. So, how do you ensure that your family gets the latter and not the former? That’s what we’ll reveal right now. Here are the key dos and don’ts that your family will need to follow.
Do Explore and Get Your Hands Dirty
You’re going to want to explore and get your hands dirty when you go camping. This is great fun for kids. They can go searching for bugs and playing in nature. That’s what camping trips should be all about. Don’t worry about keeping everything clean, neat and tidy because that’s just not how it works when you’re camping with kids.
Don’t Plan Too Ambitiously
If your plans are too ambitious and you try to reach too far with this whole trip, it’s likely to end badly. If you’re only going to be camping for a few days, you don’t want to plan so much that you fill every waking minute with activity. It’s just not realistic and it’s not good for your family either. Plan a few things and see what everyone wants to do. But don’t expect too much.
Do Take Some Tech to Keep Them Busy
It’s always tempting to ban all tech from these kinds of family plans. It sounds like a good idea, but it’s a little optimistic to say the least. Your kids are going to get bored occasionally, so it makes sense for them to have something that’ll help them relieve that boredom. Find a safe children’s app or two that you can let them play for brief periods of time. It won’t ruin the experience but it will prevent boredom.
Don’t Turn it Into a Chore for Your Kids
The last thing this camping trip should feel like for your kids is a chore. You want them to grow to love the outdoors and have fun together as a family. If it feels like you’re making them do things that they really don’t want to do, they will remember it negatively and never want to go on a camping trip again. As a parent, that’s obviously not what you want, so don’t let yourself fall into that trap.
Do Have a Laugh
This might seem like an obvious point to make, but it does matter. Having a good time is what this is all about. If you and your family can’t even do that, what was the whole exercise for? Remember this when you’re together. Come up with activities that everyone will get some enjoyment out of. If it feels like nobody’s smiling or laughing, then you’re definitely doing something wrong. That’s when you need to change things up and bring in the fun.
Family camping trips can be pretty daunting if it’s the first time for you. Make a note of these dos and don’ts, and you’ll have a great time.
