What I Wished I Knew Before I Camped with Kids

Camping with kids can be an absolutely wonderful experience for everyone involved ... roasting marshmallows, looking for shooting stars, singing Kum Ba Yah around the camp fire.

Or it can be a nightmare.

On our first camping trip with our young kids (one and three), our 1-year-old daughter spent the majority of the weekend falling down, bleeding or crying. (You really can never have enough band-aids or changes of clothes.) 

On another camping trip, the same child (who was now a mature 3 year old) wandered off. After about 10 minutes of epic terror, we found her under a picnic table about 10 sites away visiting a dog. (After this I always brought along duct tape. Yes, it's useful for camping, but it mostly served as a reminder to the girls that I'd tape them to a tree if they tried to wander off again. Yes, moms do crazy things.)

Yes, camping with kids is hard. But it's so worth it. And with a little (a lot!) of planning and preparation, your trips will be amazing and jam-packed with wonderful memories. 

First, I strongly recommend a book by Helen Olsson, called Camping With Kids (amazon.com). It's packed with oodles of excellent tips from the author who has years and years of experience camping with her kids. 

Second, here are a few of my own tips: 

• Pack three outfits per child per day. (Whether it's sticky marshmallows, a rainy weekend or someone had an "accident," there are oh-so-many ways for kids to get dirty camping. It's part of the fun, but fresh, dry clothes will keep your campers happy.) 
• Pack at least two sets of pajamas. 
• Pack a raincoat, rain pants and rain boots for every child. (Embrace the rain, and everyone will just have more fun!)
• Bring small, plastic toys (like Barbies, Hot Wheels or Legos) that are easy to clean. 
• Bring along a pack of cards, crayons and paper. Ask the kids to draw what they see around the campsite. Give them a short list for a Scavenger Hunt.  
• Prepare food ahead of time (like Breakfast Burritos) so you don't have much food prep to do on site. This will give you more time to have fun (and key an eye on) the kids. (Hopefully you won't have to get out the duct tape!) 
• Bring a water bottle for each child. Just keep cleaning and re-using the one water bottle during the entire trip. 
• If you are potty-training, bring along the small potty.

Like I said, camping with kids can be more than a little challenging. There are bound to be hiccups, but don't let it discourage you. These hiccups make for the best stories!