Is it Good for kids to Go Camping?
Camping is an experience that no child should go without. Nowadays, kids are becoming more in tune with technology than their parents and guardians. While knowing how to use technology is not a bad skill to have, considering we live in the digital age, there are other essential life skills to develop and nurture as we shape our futures.
Knowing nature and our surrounding natural environments is crucial to respecting ourselves and our planet. Taking a break from the bustle of city life, the non-stop noise, and light pollution, and being able to breathe fresh oxygen and wake up without an alarm clock are only a few of the benefits of camping.
Children thrive on new experiences and use those memories as milestones to share with their own families when they become adults.
What is a Good Age to Take a Child Camping?
A simple answer: the sooner, the better. Taking newborns camping may not be the most pleasant experience for you or them, but once your child reaches six months, this is an excellent time to start looking for campsites and checking on camping gear that may need to be replaced or added.
Tips For Camping with an Infant
Toddlers are more verbal with their likes, dislikes, wants, and needs. While keeping your child warm at night and cooler during the day is still a priority, they can alert you if they need help. Choosing an ideal time to go camping based on weather and seasonal predictions is recommended.
Pack-and-plays should be included in all outdoor adventures to keep crawlers and walkers close to the campsite when not being held. Foldable playpens also alleviate some of the worry associated with children eating dirt, touching poisonous plants, choking on pebbles, or chewing on tree bark.
Taking some of your toddler’s favorite toys camping with them is another way to help keep them entertained while meals are cooking, settling down for the night, or taking a break between other activities. It is also encouraged to pack food that your toddler will enjoy. Like infants, pack plenty of extra clothes, diapers, pullups, ointments, and wipes.
What are the Benefits Kids Get from Camping?
The number one benefit that is gained from camping is bonding time. Taking a step away from everyday life and adventuring into the not always known world of nature allows families and friends time to connect on a deeper level.
Children get to spend more one-on-one time with their loved ones, and parents focus on their kids instead of house chores, work deadlines, or who is due for the next dental cleaning. By removing all obstacles and interference, there is a feeling of freedom and relief that comes with being outdoors with those we love.
Creativity is encouraged during camping expeditions. Learning new skills, improving others, and finding ways to build, draw, or communicate with others with only what is available around the campsite can be challenging, fun, and an eye-opener for older children.
Rock towers, stick castles, leaf prints, flower bookmarks, and building campfires may be easy but also enable a feeling of accomplishment.
Camping builds resilience and a sense of adventure. Children learn to respect nature, the environment, and animals. While hiking, kids can learn the importance of not littering, staying on the trail, and spotting danger.
The more time spent outdoors, children are known to become more confident and less afraid of common age-related fears like darkness or eerie sounds at night.
While metaphorically unplugging from electronic devices at home or school, children learn that less can be more. Video games are fun, but there is more to life than staring at a screen.
Children can be amazed just as much as adults when presented with forest, mountain, or beach views. Adventuring, listening, smelling, and seeing the sights not visible during regular days awakens a part of children that encourages curiosity, exploration, discovery, learning, acceptance, wonder, and fascination.
The memories created during these times are what children take with them into adulthood and want to share with their children someday.
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