Why Every Family Should Try a Camping Trip Atleast Once

I will hold my hands up and confess, that when my husband suggested the idea of a family camping trip a couple of years ago I think I dismissed the idea before he even finished the question!

The idea of being in a tent, in the middle of nowhere cod, wet and with two kids moaning they were bored didn't sound like my idea of a "fun family holiday" at all! In fact it sounded like quite the opposite, it sounded like the exact reason I would need a holiday in the first place.

But when my son came back from a cubs camping trip a few months later telling us how much fun he had been having, how he loved camping and begging us to go together, well it was hard to say no. With that glimmer of hope that I might be converted by our son, my husband couldn't get down to the camping shop quick enough. Insisting we would just "go look" at the tents, see what we liked etc so I could get an idea for the size and how good they actually were.

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't convinced, but in the name of my sons happiness I went along and I will admit the tents now are a far cry from the small, cramped and musty tents I stayed in when I was a kid on family camping trips. Nowadays the tents are spacious with loads of room to stand, even walk around in with separate bedrooms and even separate kitchen/toilet/porch areas too.

Now I know what your all probably thinking reading this... um Jess you aren't exactly selling this whole "you need to try a camping trip" malarkey. But you see despite all the above, my worry, anxiety, stress etc we did go on our first camping trip and you know what it was flipping brilliant!

The kids absolutely loved it! We all came together to build the tent and it felt so satisfying to know we had done it together. The kids loved the freedom of an open field right outside the tent door with enough room to play tennis, swing-ball and even kick a football around without fear of hitting something or someone. They were FREE! Free to laugh, run and most importantly be free range, out in the wild kids who just wanted to be kids and isn't that what childhood is all about after all? 

I had worried that the lack of technology might be an issue and that the kids would be screaming boredom before the first night even arrived. But do you know what I can count on one hand the number of times they even mentioned the TV, console or their tablets and even then it was usually when they were overly tired from all the fun.

Instead we played board games, went to the beach, took advantage of the local attractions, parks and walks. We talked, not just in passing comments or yes/no answers, we really talked. The kids opened up, they laughed, they got muddy knees and grass stains on their clothes and didn't care at all. They ate food from the BBQ and then toasted marshmallows on the sticks on the coals as they cooled down.

They walked barefoot in the grass and stayed up late so they could see the moon and the stars. We sat out in the porch and watched night fall with just our lanterns for light inside the tent and each other to keep warm. We counted stars and made up stories about living on the moon. We watched as a flock of geese would circle the sky each evening as darkness fell and as the week went on we tried to think of names for them all. 

I came away from camping feeling exhausted (sleeping on an air bed just isn't for me) but would I do it again, heck yes in a heartbeat! Why? Because in that one short week I felt like I had got to know my kids more than I ever thought I could. I saw them be free, be happy, be a little bit wild. I saw their imaginations come to life in the games they created and I saw what pure, raw happiness was in the middle of our hectic lives a week living in a tent in the middle of a field was actually exactly what we needed. 

If you are considering a camping trip my top tips would be to go in the summer, camping is never as much fun in the rain and wind! Try to pitch within a short walk of a toilet block, most sites have toilet blocks for each camping field. But if that's not the case try to ensure you aren't too far away in case the kids need the toilet in the night (or you could obviously but a camping toilet to eliminate this issue). Most importantly though is have fun, try and just let go, have fun and enjoy the freedom that camping is amazing at giving you. 

Have you ever been on a family camping trip? 

xXx