Camping with happy kids is wonderful camping with miserable kids could convince you to pick a new family hobby. There s lots of ways to ensure a happy camping experience, but here are my picks for the three most important.
1. Keep the sleeping bag dry. Let s face it, sleeping comfortably is pretty important to all of us, but a wet sleeping bag can make a kid totally miserable. This is especially true if your child s sleeping bag is one of the big box store $20 variety. You know, the ones that weigh 15 pounds (dry!) and are made of cotton. Get one of those wet, and your camping trip is over, it will take until next year to dry. Even a good kids sleeping bag can get wet, however, and it s not easy to convince a kid to climb into a soggy bag to sleep.
The key to keeping a sleeping bag dry is to keep its surroundings dry. If you re going to be in wet conditions (rainy season, or paddling on a lake), prepare your gear. Put kids sleeping bags, and any other gear you treasure into dry bags, garbage bags, or some other water barrier. Put a tent cloth under your tent (properly!) so you keep water out of the tent. Teach your kids good tent etiquette so they don t crawl all over the tent in their wet boots, or dump a mug of hot chocolate over their sleeping bag.
2. Avoid constipation. Think I m kidding? I used to take city kids on month long canoe trips, and several of them showed insane talent for poop in the woods avoidance. Some made it as long as a week before they gave in and took Mr. Trowel off to dig a hole. Kids like routine and predictability, some kids a lot more than others. When that routine is turned upside down, even by fun activities like camping, it can cause system backup. That can lead to stomach troubles, cramps, and really stinky farts (amongst the 2-12 year old set, this is serious business, and might be for you too, if you re sharing a tent).
Fortunately, there s a really easy fix for camping constipation. Eat beans. I used to serve chili the first night out on trail. Vegetarian chili with 5 kinds of beans. Sometimes it took a day or two, but no kid could hold out a week against my 5 bean chili. Other forms of fiber help too oatmeal for breakfast, dried fruit in your gorp. Also have your kids drink lots of water, especially if fiber isn t a really common part of their diet.
3. Don t take over. We spend most of our lives organizing our kids, making sure they get up, dressed, off to school, to weekly activities and play dates. It s an easy trap to try to organize their camping experience too. This is especially easy to do when it looks like their first choices of activities involve sleeping in the tent all day or throwing rocks at one another across the firepit.
However, one of the most fundamental lessons camping can teach is that you are responsible for your own experience. Mother Nature is a great provider of natural consequences. Don t put up your tent right, you ll get wet. Don t collect firewood, you won t eat hot food. Do collect firewood, and discover the mesmerizing dance of a night campfire. Get up the energy to paddle to the middle of the lake in the middle of the night, and see stars like they were meant to be seen. Step back, and let your kids learn from their own experiences. You might just pick up a little something too.

About The Author

Debora Geary is owner of an online store carrying a wide selection of quality outdoor kids sleeping bags.
kid-sleeping-bag.com
[techtags: lake havasu camping, lake havasu campground, lake havasu campgrounds, lake havasu rv camping, arizona RV camping]

• 34 Essential Items For Your Bug Out Bag Imagine the following scenario. You are awakened in the middle of the night by the jolt of a powerful earthquake. Your house is leveled, but thankfully you and your family are uninjured. However, the roads are impassable, your utilities have been cut off, and many of your neighbors were injured......
• A Healthy Body Equals a Healthy Mind...That Goes For Kids Too! It’s no secret to anyone with a pair of eyes that America is in the middle of an obesity epidemic. Our “bigger is better” culture has created a nation of people who are overweight, and out of shape. At some point in the very near future, inactivity and poor diet......
• Cabin Tents for Outdoor Living There is nothing quite like time spent in the great outdoors, and when out there we have a tendency to seek some sort of coverage from weather. When camping out and otherwise spending time outside, cabin tents are an excellent solution. Like the name implies, these are large items, and......
• Five Essential Items For Your Camping To-Do List [/caption]Have you ever gone camping before and felt, well, terrible at it? Sure, you might have packed well, but when your feet actually hit the great outdoors, you're in a whole different world, especially if your experience is going to be truly rustic. Good camping comes with good experience, but......
• Checklist for Skiing Gear The following list is a list of the equipment, the gear and the clothing that you are going to need in order to have a successful day on the slopes. If this is your first ever ski trip, then you may want to consider renting your skis and your boots.......