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The first night is always the worse for kids sleeping, too much going off and they are all too excited to sleep, me too !

Our 5 year old doesn't go to sleep til 9 or 10 at home and we usually settle her down at 9.30 when camping and she's asleep within 30 minutes after a story as long as other children are not out playing.  Our 18 month old is a dream though, give him his usual bed time bottle of milk and he's asleep within 10 minutes, though wakes up at around 2am to snuggle in with me (terrible, I reaaalllly hate this !  )

Been a while since Ours were little but Have shared the same excited/wound up experiances as most of you on the 1st night...The excited wee whispers etc etc and as long as they wer'nt too loud or disturbing anyone else we let them get on with it..and found that they settled eventually..Kept to the usual routine..re bath/shower etc but bedtime was usually a bit later...Must admit I and the family(though all grown up now) still get excited when we are off somewhere...though as adults and young adults we can contain it better..Years ago I used to help out at young peoples week long gatherings...1st night was always a nightmare for the organisers as they were all wound up and excited..New location...new situations...new friends...all combine for a sleepless night on the 1st day....

Jelboy

I don't think there is a magic cure. Ours are 4 & 7 and sleep well in the tent. They stay up later and tend to sleep in btu the first night is often the hardest. Try going to bed at the same time, we do this sometimes and they like the novelty.

Having just returned from 3 weeks in France camping where they didn't go to bed before 10pm and woke up anywhere between 8 - 9am I am finding adjusting to bedrooms and normal routine the trickiest. Having a nightmare at both ends of the day since return!

We did buy a kids room for our Monty 6 this year, it doesn't fit perfectly as the tent is 4 yrsold but you can improvise to the point where is is pretty good. The kids love it, makes it their special place and they looked forward to going to bed on the first night. It also has a darker ceiling so may have helped with the mornings. Can recommend to any Outwell owners with young children.

Surely in the end all children are different and all parenting styles are different. We hada  dutch family next to us in France with young kids who went to bed at normal bedtime (7.30 ish) and were awake every morning at 6.30 - not for me on holiday, ours get up at that time at home!

Simon