Well, as my son has grown up over the years .... when he was quite young about five or six he used to sleep in with me, after a few years he wanted some privacy so he slept the other side of a dividing curtain, then he got even bigger for his boots and had a pup tent outside. By the time he was about fifteen he was doing quite a lot of backpacking camping in tiny tents with his mates so decided his priority during family holidays was a bit of comfort so moved back into the big tent in a pod of his own! So, I think we've tried just about every possibility as my son has gone through different stages. MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
My Brats were 7 and 8 when they first came camping and were happy to share a pod, then master Brat decided he wanted to sleep on his own, so bought a pup tent for him, this worked fine for two years, then Granddad (nick) decided to buy a bigger tent with three big sleeping pods, and now we are all cosy together.....apart from ....."granddad i need to go ! "........
From 1yr my son slept in his camp cot in one inner with us adjoining. When my daughter arrived they both slept happily together on a double airbed in their own sleeping bags. When son was 14 he had a pup tent alongside the main tent but came inside on a bad night cos he found it cold when alone.Good idea to attach small bells to zippers that reach the floor. If they start to open them the noise soon wakens you.
We took our too camping for first time last year and they were at the time 9mths and just over 2. We have a tent with 2 sleeping pods but a very large living area so each of the kids got one sleeping pod and me and hubby slept in the living area. The air bed gave us something to lie on during the day when the kids were pottering!
Our first camping trip will be in a couple of months and it is on our mind of where evryone should sleep. Our children are 6 yrs, 4 yrs, 2 yrs and a 15 mth. We have a 8 berth tent with 3 sleeping sections (4,2 and 2people). We are planning to have the 3 oldest kids and DH in the big sleeping section and the little one and and me in the smaller sleeping compartment. I don't think, to start with, I can let the kids sleep 'alone'. We are flexible though and so once we get used to camping then we can always change as we go along.
concern over sleeping arrangements was one of the main factors in choosing our current tent. our two older teens no longer come with us and we didn't want our (then) 4 year old in a pod away from us. Our tent gives us the option to have one big sleeping pod or two smaller ones. my daughter loves having her own 'bedroom' and has certain things that she takes camping to make her room special and familiar. however when the weather gets a bit wild and windy or she has a nightmare we are closer to her than we would be at home. works well for us. however I appreciate we only have one child on board these days!!
We love camping and the girls are already excited about our new tent and going away this "summer"!
Hi Scootie
We are planning to visit my family in Wiltshire in April. This way if anything goes drastically wrong we have some where to go!. We haven't decided on which camp site we are staying on yet but have narrowed it down to a handful. We are using the site search on here to choose and are taking the reviews in consideration. I'm sure everything will be fine and we are all really excited!
We are planning to visit my family in Wiltshire in April. This way if anything goes drastically wrong we have some where to go!. We haven't decided on which camp site we are staying on yet but have narrowed it down to a handful. We are using the site search on here to choose and are taking the reviews in consideration. I'm sure everything will be fine and we are all really excited!
That's a good idea - the first time we camped we went to the coast near dh's gran just in case!
Have fun!
------------- Giving a greyhound a home may not change the world, but it will change the world for that greyhound.
We sometimes have all 4 kids in one pod and us in the other. If one wants out, they make so much noise climbing over the others and unzipping the pod that we hear them we are only sleeping with 2 cotton innertents between us. If the weather is not too cold the older 2 sleep in our underbed pods, right underneath us. I can hear them snore and move so I know where they are, anyway the most they would do, is to get up for the loo. We have a portapotti so there are no problems there. This year might be different as our 2 yr old has taken to sneeking into our bed at night - hope she doesn't try that in the middle of the night. She tried last time we went camping, fell out of the bed pod( about a 50cm drop) made a lot of noise and woke everone in the tent up. The next day as we were packing up to leave, our "neighbours" were also packing up and asked us if the "little one" was o.k. They had heard her crying in the night and thought that she'd probably fallen out of bed!! I apologised for the noise and explained what had happened. They were really nice about it. Maybe this year our little madam will sleep in beside us from the start.