We got back from our camping trip late Friday afternoon – it was fantastic! Everyone had an amazing time and would have loved it if we had stayed for longer – much, much longer. 🙂
Several people have asked me what we do when we go camping. We keep things very simple – my goal isn’t to entertain my kids, but to be with them. We don’t go to commercialized campgrounds that have lots of extra activities, game rooms, etc, because that’s not the environment we want. We also choose to go off season or midweek so we have the entire campground to ourselves; the privacy makes it much nicer.
Firstly, we unpack all our supplies – the kids set up the tents and sleeping bags, pull out the camp chairs, and put their backpacks of clothing in their sleeping areas, while my husband and I organize the food area and just generally oversee things. As soon as we finished getting things set up, everyone was hot and the kids asked if they could cool off with a swim at the beach, which was just a few minutes from the campsite. It was especially nice this time since they remembered where everything was from three years ago, and kept saying, “Oh, I remember that! Oh, I saw that last time!” It added something nice to being there.
The beach was empty, and the water on the cold side, so it was just our family. I waded in and after watching tiny fish nibbling at my toes when I stood in one place more than a minute or two, sat on the beach to watch the kids. They stayed in for a while and had lots of fun. Finally I called everyone out, and we went back to our site.
Everyone got dressed in dry clothes, then started collecting firewood and building a campfire. That take a while, and is always a fun part of the experience. We made dinner on the camp stove, and after eating, everyone sat around the fire and listened to me read from our read aloud. Then we sang songs for a while, and finally everyone got to bed around 11 pm.
There’s something about sleeping outside that causes everyone to sleep soundly. Even the baby slept through the night two of the three nights, which he doesn’t usually do. What I love most about camping is the atmosphere of the forest, the inner quiet and serenity that fills you. Camping allows you to temporarily halt the daily rush and just enjoy being. It allows you to breathe deeply, get away from all the noise, and slow down enough to hear the quiet of the forest, and the quiet inside of you.
The first person up in the mornings gets to build the morning campfire, and I buy packets of hot cocoa for our trips (I don’t buy this during the year so it’s special for our trip). They warm up with the cocoa and packets of instant oatmeal (something else I don’t usually buy). At least one or two children are usually busy collecting firewood to keep the fire going during this time.
The cooking and clean up is part of the camping experience, and that takes time before and after each meal. The time for activities is between breakfast and lunch, then between lunch and dinner – they did fishing, hiking, swimming and sunning at the beach, and boating. Since each of those activities filled an entire morning or afternoon, and could easily be repeated from one day to another without it getting boring, they were busy all day long, every day we were there.
This was the first year that we were able to let the kids explore and do things on their own. In the past, my husband has planned hikes or swims with them, but the payoff of the years of doing it with them is that now they are very competent and can do these things independently. Sometimes we joined them for part of their activities, sometimes for all, sometimes not at all. When the two little ones (25 mo. and 8.5 mo) were napping, I took advantage of the quiet of the campsite, where I spent time reading inspirational literature, did some journalling, and had time for reflection.
One of the afternoons, my husband took several of the younger kids boating, while the older three fished, and I stayed with the sleeping baby. When he woke up, I strapped him into the baby backpack and hiked two or three miles around the lake. Hiking backpacks are a great invention. The baby enjoyed hanging out and watching everything, and I enjoyed the exercise and the time by myself.
On the last day, the toddler wanted to go with his older siblings, but they were taking a hike that would have been too long for him. Though I kept him busy so he wouldn’t see them leave, he saw them from a distance several minutes later and tried to run through the forest to get to them. He stopped and excitedly called to me, “I found a river!” He found a beautiful little stream, and we sat together on the grassy bank next to it for 20 minutes before he wanted to move again. The sound of the water bubbling over the rocks was so calming. Then I let him play in the stream, which was only a few inches deep – he threw pebbles in the water, climbed up and down the bank, and played for another 1.5 hours until it was time to go back. My husband joined me with the baby after about a half hour, so we had some quiet time watching the 2 yo play.
Camping to me isn’t exciting – it’s more about being deeply fulfilling. My kids all have this same feeling. That’s not to say they don’t have fun – they absolutely love it and have a great time all day long. What I mean is that it’s not exciting like an amusement park. It’s not a vacation filled with artificial thrills or manmade activities. It’s time spent doing concrete things with each other, and it feels meaningful and significant.
Avivah
