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The Perfect Campsite
The Ups, Downs, Joys and Adventures of Camping with Kids
By Julia Rosien
We camped for the first time with Alexander just after his second birthday. He tottered along behind us as we set the tents up and made our meals on our camp stove. He dug holes in the dirt with my spatula and splashed at the waves on the beach. He happily put on his jammies, and played in the tent with his older brother while we readied our sleeping bags. We climbed into our beds and turned off the light. His screams shook the tent walls, and sent my husband scrambling to find the light. Alexander obviously thought this was all a game until the lights went off and scared him senseless. I ended up sleeping with him that whole camping trip. With my son's grubby fist tightly curled in my hair, I smiled at my husband lying two bodies away.
This year I had a 2-year-old along again. Grace is nothing like her brothers at this age. She happily accepts new situations and follows the crowd, wherever it goes. Her biggest joy was riding on the back seat of my bike. Her helmet slipping sideways and her hands gripping my belt, she kicked at my hips as if she were a cowboy on a balky mare as she yelled, "Ride, Mommy." Nothing dampens Grace's spirit. She thought it was all part of the plan when she and I fell sideways off the boardwalk. As I rose shakily to my feet with bleeding knees and elbows, she piped up, "Ride again, Mommy."
Remembering how much I loved camping as a kid, I expected my own 7- and 9-year-olds to feel the same. My 7-year-old, the one who screamed in the dark as a 2-year-old, didn't disappoint me. When Alexander laughs, he laughs right from hi gut, and he enjoyed camping much the same way – wringing every ounce of pleasure out of it. If he wasn't catching grasshoppers, he searched the beach for pretty stones or shells. He rode his bike around the campground, reporting all the wonderful things he had seen. Did we know the people just down the way have two dogs with them? Or maybe we should go meet the people up the hill with the big inner tube?