So you're going camping

Kids love camping, right? For the most part but, it can be tricky keeping them entertained. Kids today are a little harder to entertain than when I was young. I remember camping for a week at a time, no parental guidance for fun necessary. We would take our bikes and ride around the campground meeting new friends along the way. Spend hours wading in the water catching frogs, fish, whatever other poor critter happened by. Unfortunately, today's kids are constantly visually entertained and always supervised. For safety reasons, you can't let them wonder and explore on their own so they just don't know how. These days you have to devote more time to keeping your kids safe and busy with activity.

My first thought is food, fast cooking means more family time. Bring snack foods that don't require preparation and ideally ones that don't require refrigeration. Trail mix, bananas, peanuts, etc. My husband says we snack like rodents when we go camping. As far as meals, we used to plan elaborate dishes, barbecue spare ribs, baked potatoes with sour cream, corn on the cob. Overtime we learned to plan only 1 large meal and the rest of the time use a quick cook menu. Our 1 large meal for the trip is often homemade soup cooked in a cast iron pot, over an open fire, be sure to cut the vegetables ahead of time. A great breakfast idea is scrambled eggs in a bag. No greasy pan to scrub. Crack some eggs and put them in a baggie along with a bit of milk if you like, mix them up, drop in boiling water and behold, scrambled eggs. This is a great one for me having stomach problems, the butter for cooking is eliminated making them easier for me to eat. You can also pick them right out of the bag and eat with your hands but, I prefer a fork. Also make sure you pack a lot of drinks, when camping in the woods, the temperatures are a little cooler under the trees. Being very active yet staying cooler might cause dehydration to go unnoticed until it's too late.

One problem that I've had with my daughter is trying to keep her away from her electronics. Although my mindset is to just leave them at home, it's important to remember that kids enjoy these things and forcing them to leave them behind and have a good time is pretty much impossible and unfair. You have to remember that this trip is meant to be fun and fighting over removing things that they enjoy kind of defeats the purpose. Several trips ago we worked out a system. No MP3 while hiking, boating or fishing, use it during down times at the campsite only. Cell phones can be checked for messages but not carried during every activity. These rules are still a work in progress but, seems to be working much better than the cold turkey method.

Safety is always a concern so make sure you take a first aid kit along. You don't have to go and buy an official kit, in my opinion they sometimes contain a lot of unnecessary items. You already have all that you need in your home. Get a small bag for band aids, anti biotic ointment, tylenol, aspirin, pepto bismol and any other medications that your family uses on a regular basis.

If you are tent camping, get a site close to the bathroom. Enough said.

It is tempting if you've had a long drive to pull into your site and take a break before setting up. The best thing to do is completely set up before anything else. It is frustrating for me if I can't find something because it is still packed away. Give your kids set up instructions too, I always give my daughter her own little corner of the tent to set up as her own. This keeps her occupied while I unpack and allows her to create her own space.

The absolute worst part of camping for me is the public shower house. Be sure to pack a pair of cheap rubber flip flops that you can keep on while showering. We always have so many extra showering supplies in our bag that carrying it along is pretty much impossible so here's what I do: Fill your travel bag with everyone's supplies, soaps, shampoo, lotions, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shaving supplies, whatever. Next step, I bought a plastic basket with a handle, (looks like a tray that they carry into the room to do a bloodtest on you). When each person goes to the shower, take out their share of supplies and place in this carrying basket. It is great for the ease of carrying but also, when you return from the shower, you can dry everything before putting back in the travel bag. No more wet goopy messes when you get home.

I guess that sums it up, just remember it is about everyone having fun and enjoy nature and family.