Camping with toddlers and very small children | Photo by Dawid Sobolewski on Unsplash
In a case of perfect timing, I received this post from Christina just as I was packing to take my family on a modified camping trip. Her son, Robby, is nearly the exact same age as my little guy. I already know we disagree on a couple points, but I LOVE her very strong opinions nonetheless.
Here are three of my favorite tips for camping with toddlers:
Put boots on over footed pjs at night. This way your kid’s pjs don’t get ruined by all the dirt.
Bring a battery-powered sound machine. This is one thing I didn’t think of, but wished I had. Campgrounds are loud! I didn’t realize this pre-baby, probably because I was the loud one whooping it up at 10:30 at night. That wind down time probably would have been cut in half had we had a sound machine to drown out the din of the people around us.
Give it time. It took Robby an extra 30 minutes to settle down for nap/bed. We did our normal routine of books and songs in the tent and then it took him that extra time to actually close his eyes.
Unfortunately for us, Sawyer’s rainboots are at least 2 sizes too small so I’m SOL on that tip, but I did grab some brown footie pajamas to hide the dirt. I have an old iPod touch that might last us for the duration of our 4-night excursion as a white noise machine if I set the timer to fade out after bedtime. Speaking of bedtime, by that time of day, I am often out of patience so I will add 30 minutes to my regularly scheduled breaking point.
Since we’ll be sleeping in dusty tent cabins in a climate where rain is extremely unlikely, my tactics are different from Christina’s (I’m bringing a travel crib, yo). But I have a hunch that if I were camping with her, I’d take her advice right down the line.
Read why she thinks you should skip the pack n play and what to do in case of rain in her post: Real advice for camping with a toddler.
[1st Photo by Dawid Sobolewski on Unsplash | Photo of Robby in a leanto by Virtual Stina. Can you believe that kid with his cutie pie hair? He could be mine if I didn’t have the little boy versions of the Charlie’s Angels]
