Dirt. Sticky ‘smores. Bugs. Worms. Rocks. Sand. Mosquito bites. Sunblock. More dirt. Campfire. Sleeping bags. Snakes. Sticks. Lake swimming. Birds. Fishing poles. Hot Dogs. Other people walking strange dogs. Even more dirt.
It is no wonder kids love camping so much. Rules that don’t make sense to begin with no longer apply. No clocks, so life isn’t run by bedtime. You get to stay as dirty as you want. Anything that sounds good to eat, like jiffy pop and marshmallows are okay by mom and dad. You can watch your dad do fun stuff like build fires and kill snakes. He’ll take you fishing, build really cool sand castles and spin you around in the air much faster and higher than mom likes, until you are too dizzy to stand in the dirt. You can watch your mom do her chores in a most silly fashion; she’ll wash dishes in a tub with a jug of water and hang wet swimsuits and towels on a rope in the trees. She’ll take you swimming in the lake, playing at the playground or to do crafts in the nature cabin.
Yes, camping as a kid is a childhood essential. My husband and I cherish the passing on of traditions through the art of tent camping. The trick is to find that perfect balance between amenities and nature. I’m not above bringing paper plates, easy foods like pre-cut fruit trays or granola bars, and small things to make inevitable dirt a little more manageable, such as a broom and dustpan for sweeping the tent. No need to pretend you are new cast members on Survivor simply because you are camping, especially when your children are 3 and 1 years old. With my husband’s love for the show Man Vs. Wild, I know he’d prefer to be out in the middle of nowhere and made to ring out his own shirt overhead for a shower. I, on the other hand, enjoy primitive camping as long as there are flushable toilets on the grounds someplace and running water within reasonable walking distance.
I was evaluating this balance during our recent camping trip, particularly when neighboring campers showed up half-way through our vacation and started unpacking. The paradoxical nature of their supplies bewildered me. Now, granted, there is a vast difference between camping with a camper or RV, and tent camping. There is merit to both. However, until last weekend, I sort of assumed that those who chose to camp in a tent with their kids were doing it to embrace nature and find the fun in the dirt of the earth. I assumed, falsely it turns out, that people who veered their cars to the “primitive sites” did so with purpose and understanding.
Trying to set aside my initial sardonic instincts, I truly would like to know if the incongruity of some of their supplies was from a sheer lack of reason and logic. Who brings Febreze Air Freshner with them to a tent campground? The mom set it on the picnic table next to her Clorox bleach wipes. Bringing a product which boasts the slogan, “it’s a breath of fresh air” with you to sleep in the wide open space of the great outdoors is more than just ironic. Are you hoping to bring the fresh and clean natural scent that a chemical plant tried to reproduce back to the woods? The scent was labeled, “Meadows & Rain,” which boasts the description, “the watery scent of dewdrops and cool morning mist.” Umm… newsflash: look around you. You are surrounded by woods, overlooking a lake and you are sleeping on grass and dirt. Tune in at 5 when we disclose the lasting effects of sniffing said aerosol can.
I am grateful that, while we’re not as rustic as we could be, at least I value the gift I’m giving my kids when we take them camping. The dirt is, in no small way, a part of what makes camping so great. As one former Boy Scout put it, “what I like about camping is you can get really dirty. Either you're all by yourself, so no one else sees you, or everyone you're with is just as dirty as you are, so nobody cares.”
Here is my plea to parents. Just for a few days a year, leave the television, hand sanitizer, portable video games, Clorox wipes and air freshener at home. Think magnifying glass, fishing pole, bug box, binoculars and pails. It’s not going to kill your kids to eat a hot dog off a stick, any more than it’s going to hurt them to take a week off from electronic entertainment. God built more adventure into this big beautiful planet than you can find in a Nintendo DS, and gave the earth more refreshing sights and scents than you can find in a bottle of Febreze. As scientist George Washington Carver thoughtfully suggested, “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
Enjoy God’s earth and give your kids the kind of camping memories that will last them a lifetime. They’ll thank you for it!
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It is no wonder kids love camping so much. Rules that don’t make sense to begin with no longer apply. No clocks, so life isn’t run by bedtime. You get to stay as dirty as you want. Anything that sounds good to eat, like jiffy pop and marshmallows are okay by mom and dad. You can watch your dad do fun stuff like build fires and kill snakes. He’ll take you fishing, build really cool sand castles and spin you around in the air much faster and higher than mom likes, until you are too dizzy to stand in the dirt. You can watch your mom do her chores in a most silly fashion; she’ll wash dishes in a tub with a jug of water and hang wet swimsuits and towels on a rope in the trees. She’ll take you swimming in the lake, playing at the playground or to do crafts in the nature cabin.
Yes, camping as a kid is a childhood essential. My husband and I cherish the passing on of traditions through the art of tent camping. The trick is to find that perfect balance between amenities and nature. I’m not above bringing paper plates, easy foods like pre-cut fruit trays or granola bars, and small things to make inevitable dirt a little more manageable, such as a broom and dustpan for sweeping the tent. No need to pretend you are new cast members on Survivor simply because you are camping, especially when your children are 3 and 1 years old. With my husband’s love for the show Man Vs. Wild, I know he’d prefer to be out in the middle of nowhere and made to ring out his own shirt overhead for a shower. I, on the other hand, enjoy primitive camping as long as there are flushable toilets on the grounds someplace and running water within reasonable walking distance.
I was evaluating this balance during our recent camping trip, particularly when neighboring campers showed up half-way through our vacation and started unpacking. The paradoxical nature of their supplies bewildered me. Now, granted, there is a vast difference between camping with a camper or RV, and tent camping. There is merit to both. However, until last weekend, I sort of assumed that those who chose to camp in a tent with their kids were doing it to embrace nature and find the fun in the dirt of the earth. I assumed, falsely it turns out, that people who veered their cars to the “primitive sites” did so with purpose and understanding.
Trying to set aside my initial sardonic instincts, I truly would like to know if the incongruity of some of their supplies was from a sheer lack of reason and logic. Who brings Febreze Air Freshner with them to a tent campground? The mom set it on the picnic table next to her Clorox bleach wipes. Bringing a product which boasts the slogan, “it’s a breath of fresh air” with you to sleep in the wide open space of the great outdoors is more than just ironic. Are you hoping to bring the fresh and clean natural scent that a chemical plant tried to reproduce back to the woods? The scent was labeled, “Meadows & Rain,” which boasts the description, “the watery scent of dewdrops and cool morning mist.” Umm… newsflash: look around you. You are surrounded by woods, overlooking a lake and you are sleeping on grass and dirt. Tune in at 5 when we disclose the lasting effects of sniffing said aerosol can.
I am grateful that, while we’re not as rustic as we could be, at least I value the gift I’m giving my kids when we take them camping. The dirt is, in no small way, a part of what makes camping so great. As one former Boy Scout put it, “what I like about camping is you can get really dirty. Either you're all by yourself, so no one else sees you, or everyone you're with is just as dirty as you are, so nobody cares.”
Here is my plea to parents. Just for a few days a year, leave the television, hand sanitizer, portable video games, Clorox wipes and air freshener at home. Think magnifying glass, fishing pole, bug box, binoculars and pails. It’s not going to kill your kids to eat a hot dog off a stick, any more than it’s going to hurt them to take a week off from electronic entertainment. God built more adventure into this big beautiful planet than you can find in a Nintendo DS, and gave the earth more refreshing sights and scents than you can find in a bottle of Febreze. As scientist George Washington Carver thoughtfully suggested, “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
Enjoy God’s earth and give your kids the kind of camping memories that will last them a lifetime. They’ll thank you for it!
