Saturday, Mar 20, 2004 at 17:08
Our nearly 3 yr old has been camping with us since he was 4 mths old. We now have a newborn as
well who enjoyed her first camping trip last weekend at the ripe old age of 3.5 weeks. Anyway, travelling with kid(s) has been a learning curve for us but luckily I was brought up camping and travelling extensively as a kid so I had some experience and good advice from mum and dad on which to rely.
For starters,
check-out this site - "Travelling with kids" section under the "On the Road" menu. Apart from the the comments there the best advice I can offer is:
1) Set realistic travel goals each day. We find 5-6 hours in the car in any one day is about the limit without our son (and therefore us) gets irritable. Which brings me to my next point...
2) Plan to stop regularly and for long enough to give the kids adequate time to stretch their legs. We always stop for morning and afternoon tea and lunch. We also use a couple of guidebooks on
free camping and/or picnic and roadside stops to plan ahead as much as possible. Also, talk to fellow travellers about good
places to stop. Another thing we do is keep a footy, frisbee or similiar handy and bring it out at each stop as it encourages our son and us to run around and burn up some energy and reduces the temptation to get back on the road too soon.
3) Try to stop each night with at least a couple of hours daylight left. Apart from making the job of setting up
camp easier, it gives the kids plenty of time to play and explore their new surroundings.
4) Food! Keep plenty of snacks handy in the car and hand them out whenever the kids start grousing. I keep an assortment of individual "snack-packs" (tiny teddies, BBQ shapes, chips etc), saltana's, biscuits, dried and fresh fruit and as a special treat towards the end of the day if he's been good, a lollypop (Chuppa Chup have a "healthy" fruit variety).
5) Let each child pack a toy bag each day for in the car. I don't yet trust our son not to draw on the car upholstery so I don't let him have colouring books yet but he likes "reading" so we always have 5-6 story books handy for him. Magna-doodle, sticker books and pipe cleaners (which keep him occupied for hours making aeorplanes, helicopters etc) we've also found to be good entertainers.
6) This may not apply to you so much since you have 2 kids who can play together, but...our son is quite outgoing and used to mixing with other kids because he goes to daycare but even so, it can still be hard for him to "break the ice" with new kids around
camp. So if there are other potential playmates around we'll take him over, introduce him and even get involved in their game until he is comfortable enough for us to fade into the background. Usually, this whole process only takes about 10 minutes and is
well worth the effort.
7) As far as it is possible in the coromol, give each child their own personal space. Obviously their bunk, perhaps a cupboard for their personal treasures etc. Our camper has two single bunks, one of which is our sons. This is his little
home away from
home, and apart from somewhere to sleep, it's somewhere to stash his toys, play, read, rest, be sent to for quiet time etc. And it's also somewhere where he even has his little playmates over for a visit (albiet briefly before they get sent outside LOL). Anyway, it might be an expecially good idea for you when the kids start to get on each others nerves etc.
8) Lastly, you don't say how much travelling your kids have done before...if it's not much then I'd start taking some practice trips on weekends. It'll help the kids used to sitting for long periods in the car, they'll learn what is expected of them around
camp (and you'll learn what to realistically expect from them) and finally, they'll soon realise that whilst sitting in the car can be boring there's lots of fun and interesting things waiting for them at the end of each day.
I hope this helps somewhat. You know your own kids best but this is what we've found works best for us.
:o) Melissa
AnswerID:
51172