national gathering and teenagers

I am sure that once you are on the road heading for Wiluna they will have changed their minds and begin to enjoy the trip.

My kids are going to be 6 and 3 so they have no choice about not going LOL

I am trying to organise as many activities that will involve kids of all ages so I am confident that they will learn something and not need the internet or phones to do it ;)

Cheers Kev

Don't give them the option not to come as they will no doubt complain either way. My kids always recall highlights from our camping trips long after the complaints of "I'm cold" have long gone.
Cheers Craig.............

We'll have our 3 kids, but oldest is only 13....others are 12 and 10 (or almost).

But we're only going to be there for the Monday...leaving for Sunshine Coast on Tuesday morning.

Cheers

Roachie

Hi we took a multi-age group to Cape York for 7 weeks. 2 x 16yrs, 2 x 14 yrs, 1 x 13, 1 x 11, 1 x 4, 1 x 2yrs. The 16yr olds were dead set they weren't going on any stupid camping trip for that long and they were quite capable of staying home by themselves! These were kids who had camped since birth, but now that they had morphed into teenagers, it was suddenly boring and uncool! They survived without any phones or computers and had an absolute ball. The most important thing to the trip being a success was that they had other kids their own age, and that they were able to get away from us (eg own tents, swags, sometimes their own camp fire) so they could talk secret kids business.

The kids were the ones who never wanted to move on from each stop, they were having too much fun! They still talk about what a great time they had and how they cant wait to do it again.

Don't bow to pressure and leave them at home! Tell them to pack the old clothes and lots of deodorant and as long as there are other teens there, they will have a ball. They will still check their mobile for signal 10 times a day, but at least they will have others to commiserate with!

Good luck
Susan

Doc,

I can offer this. I have only made it to the 2004 gathering in Robe. The GLW couldn't get away from work so I was planning to go alone and asked the youngest Son to come (he was 15).

He objected vehemently. Thought he'd be bored bleep less. The GLW had a chat with him and encouraged him to get away with Dad.

Well, he had a ripper time. Loved the sand driving ("that was a rush Dad" after we tackled some steep downhills followed by tight, fast corners and uphill runs).

Being off road, I let him drive numerous times and didn't that make his day?

He also teamed up with another couple of teenage lads (Warren aka Aussie Chef's Sons) and they got up to a little mischief (snuck into a pub and managed to buy a round of beers before getting thrown out for being underage).

Don't let them miss it, they can do without the internet for a few days. The internet is for ever, chances to spend time with your children are fleeting, grab them whilst you can.

Those four days that Stevo and I spent together are one of the most precious memories that I have. After that he accompanied me on a few more trips and they were very special as well.

Regards,

Jim.

when I was a kid my old man told me what to do, not the other way around.

Grab yourself by the gonads and tell them they are going and they will have a good time or else, for god sake who runs your household? you or them.

Take them with you - they need to learn that it is possible to survive without internet, mobile phones, shops etc. for a few days. It is important for children (esp. teens) to learn to converse with other people (face to face - not just on facebook, SMS, etc.) including those who might not necessarily be from their own age group (how many of us enter the workforce surrounded by our peers?).

As has also been said: if they are teens now, it won't be long and they'll be going off with their friends all the time and you'll have all but lost the opportunity to spend time together as a family.

Stop it! Ya'll terrifying me!!
Oz Doc have you noticed that we're planning an Car Rally/Amazing Race? Not being a parent of the beloved teenager, I'm not 100% sure, but I suspect most would like the idea of a competition? We are planning the Amazing Race to be just that, with checkpoints and puzzles to solve etc. Maybe the kids can compete with one another, or against the parents? I'll certainly make sure we take a look at the ages of all coming and ensure we have activities to suit everyone but I know that's just a few days out of what could be a big long trip for you.

If it were me, I guess I'd just make the family assumption they were coming and proceed with the trip planning - get them into the camping store to choose their tent or swags, get them into Mountain Design to choose their polarfleece jacket and thermals, get them to use the computer and OziExplorer etc to plan the route - they're proably really good at working out the driving distances and stop points etc, make a route file etc. Get one of them to then be your in-car navigator to setup the laptop, load the maps, fire up the gps and set the moving map mode going. Even record the track, drop some waypoints for all yours stops etc. Another can write the family trip diary at night, or in the car using Word or notebook (then cut/paste into your blog when online. Get them involved, but let them extend to to suit their generation. Use websites like Taste.com etc to find/adapt a couple of meals they'll also cook - let them know you'll let them take the wheel offroad a few times, etc. I wouldn't give in to them - but that's me, and I've not yet suffered the injustice of seeing my kids turn the age of a teenager so I respect that you know your family best but if you really want this, then make it so number one - you are the boss!
Best of luck with it, Michelle