8 Reasons to Camp With Your Kids

1.      The cost- it’s pretty cheap as far as vacations are concerned.  Our rig cost less than most families  spend on one trip to Disney. And we own it forever. You can rent fully equipped cabins for the cost of a hotel room and the price usually includes all of the campground activities. It’s about as “uncommercial” as you can get. There’s no need to drop a lot of bucks on crap you don’t need from gift shops. You may want spending cash for ice cream at the camp store, or money to play bingo on Friday night, quarters for the arcade or $6 to rent a boat. That’s about it.

2.      You can find campgrounds anywhere. If there’s a place you’d like to visit you can bet there’s a place to set up camp. If you prefer to just hang out and enjoy the campground you can do that too. They all have pools, games, activities for kids, bingo, fishing, etc. There’s no time to be bored. Unless you want to be bored. Feel free sit in your camp chair around the fire all you like.

3.      You can drink a beer in a koozie at any time of day and no one will bat an eye.

4.       You can be spontaneous and your trips can be as long or short as you like. If you find yourself bored in the middle of week long vacations, camping gives you the opportunity to explore new places whenever you like. If the weather is looking good you can always book a place last minute. There is a ton of flexibility.

5.       There is no need to get fancy. You will meet ALL KINDS of people on campgrounds but no one will be fancy. You’ll all look a little grubby, be wearing old clothes, and sleeping in close quarters. When you get home you will find that your moderately sized home is much larger than you’ll ever really need.

6.       Opportunities for adventure and autonomy for the kids. Kids can take part in setting up, breaking down, cooking, building fires, hikes, games, etc.  They will be active, busy and unplugged. They will make new friends every trip.

7.       It’s also a hobby! Want to know what to get campers for Christmas? Camping stuff. Once you get the camping bug you will nerdily pour through the camping store catalogs and start Pinteresting camping organization ideas. You will take pride in your rig and your “set up.” People will compliment your ingenious paper towel holder idea.

8.       Family time. This is the most important and really the main reason we do this. Our kids will only be little once. They may not always love spending time with us in the future, but right now they do. My husband has a stressful job and uses this time to wind down. My favorite part of every day is the evenings around the campfire. Talking and laughing with the family, having some wine and smores, putting the kids to bed and having MORE wine and smores. It is so simple yet so much fun.