Taking Children Into The Wilderness With A Little Planning, Camping With Kids Can Be Fun

The memory is so clear in my mind that it might be there forever. Two kids, older sister and younger brother, are trundling off down a trail. Sister carries a yellow bucket. Brother, in rubber boots, is holding his sister’s free hand.

They are venturing into the woods, headed for a small creek, seeking ingredients for their “soup.” That would be pine cones, grass, rocks, dirt, moss and sticks.

It is one of those fine moments you experience as a parent when all of the work of packing the camping gear, all of the pit stops on the trip north, all of the hassles of bugs and bears and bedtimes are worth it.

Sitting there as mom and dad, you know instinctively that you are doing something right for your offspring. You have brought them to this seminatural place and pitched the tents and created a little world within the bigger world.

Now, from this new and wonderful base, they are spreading their wings, testing their independence, forging into new territory. Together. Without fighting. In the great outdoors.

It is worth it, camping with the kids. But it isn’t easy.

People think it’s hard to climb Mount McKinley or raft the Colorado River. Ha. Try getting a 2-year-old to go to sleep in a tent. Try car-camping your way around Montana with three siblings close in age. Try finding a flashlight with good batteries remaining after a week on the trail with the kids.

We know.

Some of us have been there. And we’ve also talked to a lot of others who have been there. Here’s what we’ve learned.

Before you head off to the wilds, such as a nearby state park, try pitching the tent in the back yard and spending a night there. It’ll get the kids accustomed to night sounds, the novelty of sleeping in a tent. And as a parent, you can go through the necessary stage of waking up in the middle of the night wondering if your child is suffocating down in that bag.

Especially with young kids, it is not necessary to drive halfway across the country to find a place to camp. Young kids have little concept of distance. They don’t know if you’re in Liberty Lake County Park or Rocky Mountain National Park, except for how long it takes to get there by car, which is almost always too long.

You can hike with an infant slung on your chest quite nicely. Once they get to a certain size and can hold their little heads up, you can think about carrying them in one of those child backpacks. In fact, if you’re having trouble getting your children to take a nap in the tent, sling ‘em on and take a walk. They’ll be out in a flash.

Car camping is a great way to begin.

When your kids are old enough to appreciate the expense, splurge on an outfitter for a river rafting trip or a trek using burros or llamas to carry the gear. Parents will be surprised at how relaxing a trip can be when they don’t have to do EVERYTHING.

Sweatpants beat jeans. Hooded sweatshirts. Plenty of T-shirts. More socks than you think you’ll need. Today’s fleece fabrics (the trade name is Polartec) are tops. They come in pants and jackets, too. They don’t soak up water like cotton and are also warmer.

Diaper wipes are great for sticky hands and milk mustaches when water’s scarce.

Using clothing to cover most of the child is the best bet against bugs, as well as sun. Use insect repellent sparingly on children.

Explore your expectations before you go. You’re there primarily for the kids, and it helps to become a kid yourself. Travel on their schedule. Sleep on their schedule. Flit from one activity to another on their schedule. Once you accept that and let go of your own notions of what camping used to be B.K. (Before Kids), you’ll be much happier. Don’t try to do too much.

Travel in packs. If you can, find some friends with or without kids to travel with, or take along your teenage nieces or nephews. Kids love being with other kids, and the extra adults will allow you to team-parent on your trip.

Because little kids are programmed to explore, the best place in a canoe for a 1- or 2-year-old is in front of mom or dad in the bow seat. Often the bow paddler won’t paddle. Hope for no wind.

Even little kids want to bring their own paddles along in a canoe, but they don’t paddle well. Advice: Tie a piece of parachute cord about 3 feet long to the paddle. It gives you a lot more reaction time when the paddle falls in the water.

Don’t leave home without the blanket. Or any (small) stuffed animal or little possession that is of great value to a child. It’s security. It’s no big deal. Bring it along.

What about toys? When you’re camping, kids find all kinds of things to do, with all kinds of stuff they find in the forest. Sticks. Leaves. Dirt. Roots. Rocks. Dirt. Pine cones. Grass. Dirt. The only things that facilitate this play might be a small plastic bucket (the handle will break; take duct tape) and maybe a small shovel. Kids will also need a few of your camping supplies: short lengths of rope (or parachute cord), spoons, cups, paper towels, maybe a cookpot. Oh, and a small squirt bottle (like you use on your hair or the plants) is fun, although sooner or later they’ll turn it on one another.

Even when they’re very young, let kids pack their own small packs of whatever they want to bring along. Well, maybe not scissors. But a couple of books, a small doll or stuffed animal, their blanket. That way, they have their own packs - and a sense of being like mom and dad. As they get older, the packs get larger, and their loads get more essential to the trips.

It will rain, so you’ll need two things to stay sane. One is a large (about 10-by-12-foot) coated nylon tarp to string over the picnic table or campsite, so you can stay out of the tent and out of the rain. The other is entertainment for the tent - coloring books, markers, crayons, drawing paper, books. Put these things in resealable plastic bags and save them for the rainy day.

Give each child a resealable plastic bag at the beginning of each day with a day’s allotment of goodies - hard candies, M&Ms, caramels, pretzels, whatever. It’s up to each child how soon he devours the contents or how long she hoards them.

For reasonably healthy snacks, try cut-up carrots or celery, raisins (in those cute little boxes), string cheese, low-fat crackers, yogurt, grapes, apples and oranges.

Kids need to know that axes are off limits. And saws are for use only in cooperation with an adult.

A standard first-aid pack includes a pain reliever like Tylenol or Tempra, bandages (hundreds), sunscreen, tweezers (a Swiss Army Knife is handy), a thermometer, sterile gauze pads and wide adhesive tape and Benodryl, in case of a reaction to bee stings.

Always have life jackets in the boat or canoe. Always put one on the child if they are playing near water, unless you’re close by and watching like a hawk. And even then, why not?