Camping

Keywords: Camping, vacation

By Stacy DeBroff

One way we like to travel is by camping. We have a travel trailer that we pull behind our truck. We can stay twice as long for the same price as a motel. We sleep in our own beds, with our own sheets, blankets and pillows! We save money by cooking our own food on the fire outside or in the oven inside. We really have been able to teach our children about nature. We have also learned to fish as a family, canoe, and soon our boys (husband and son) will go on their first hunting trip in the camper. We took our camper from Illinois to West Virginia to visit family. We did not have to worry about the family finding a place for us to sleep, and when we wanted our privacy, we just went to our camper. As you can see, we love camping, and it has proven to be very cost effective as compared to other forms of travel/vacationing. —Anita Simpson, mom of Corey, 9, and Brette, 5

As a family, we have done some pretty serious hiking in Montana. We found that lots of stops really help. We insist that our kids carry their gear, namely clothes and sleeping bags in backpacks. I carry a lot of very small sweet treats for them, and discovered things like that lollipops with bubble gum inside, which I never allow at home, last a long time as we hike. We found that it works best to set up camp once, and then do day hikes from that base, as setting up camp and closing it up takes three to four hours each time. Lastly, make sure you camp near potable water or water that you can filter from a pond or river. —Anne Doyle, mom of Chris, 8, and Corey, 5

When we go camping as a family, we take lots of board games. I buy new one for each camping trip. We try to let the kids do things that we don’t do at home, like having soda or cookies all the time or cooking bacon every morning. It’s amazing the things you can make really special just giving kids things they don’t normally have. We camp on an open site with three tents, kayaks, and a sailboat. Of course packing up, we look like the Beverly Hillbillies. —* Elizabeth Affel, mom of Andrew, 15, Joseph, 11, and Charlie, 9*

Because I couldn’t bring myself to trek out to the bathroom each time a child had to pee, we instead put a bucket right outside the tent and used that for middle of the night emergencies. —Deb Boudreau, mom of Evan, 8, and Olivia, Justin, and Shelby, 6

• Try an overnight in your backyard first to see how your child will react to sleeping outdoors in a tent, to impart some basic camping skills, and to give him some idea of what kind of adventure to expect.

• Many new tents have separate chambers, or “rooms” inside them to give you some privacy and your child a feeling of independence without forcing you to pitch multiple tents. Consider how much room you’ll need and how much separation you want from your child before spending a lot of money on the deluxe model. How often do you plan on going camping with your child? Will he want his own tent in a few years?

• Use a forward-facing front carrier when hiking with a baby: It protects your baby’s neck from bumps and jolts, offers him better view, avoids branches in his face, and allows you to keep a closer watch on how he is doing.

• Give your child his own pack for hiking expeditions. Even a toddler can pack a snack or a small juice box in a fanny pack, and this will get him started preparing his own pack for longer hikes.

• Pack clothes, food, or camping gear in storage bins or buckets with lids. A bucket can later double as a seat at camp, a low table for child’s card games, a place to wash clothes or dishes, and an impromptu bathtub for your child. Bring along a plastic bag to put in dirty clothes afterward so everything can go back into the bucket.

• An inflatable pool will also double as a tub for your child. If you have an infant or toddler with you, it’s a great way to keep him entertained and safe at the camp site, and it makes a great play area or crib when it’s lined.

• Bring warmer clothes than you think you’ll need, and take your child’s complaints of cold seriously. It’s tougher to warm up when all you have is a thin tent or an unheated cabin to go to for the night.

Stacy, heralded as a “parenting guru” by the Wall Street Journal, authored four best-selling parenting books (Simon & Schuster) and launched Mom Central, Inc. (www.MomCentral.com), a company devoted to providing savvy advice to simplify and enrich the lives of busy Moms and their families. Stacy appears as a regular parenting expert on national TV show, including NBC’s Today Show, CNN, The View, Tyra Banks Show, CBS’ Early Show, The Daily Buzz, Mike And Juliet, Fox & Friends, and the Rachael Ray Show. Stacy also serves as a corporate spokesperson, trendspotting for the media on behalf of over 30 national brands.

In the 1990’s, Stacy founded and ran as an attorney the Public Interest Office at Harvard Law School. Stacy lives with her husband, Ron, and happily engages in imperfect parenting of their two teens, Kyle and Brooks, in Boston, Massachusetts.