Jennifer Parkes
Jennifer Parkes has three active kids who love the great outdoors.
Backyard Travel Family founder Jennifer Parkes has three active kids who love the great outdoors. Read her simple tricks to keep your young ones entertained on a camping trip.
Camping doesn’t have to be roughing it
It doesn’t have to be a flimsy tent and an uncomfortable blue foam mat any more. I swear by a Zempire Monstamat which is like sleeping on a cloud, and I have to say, I sleep on it as well as I do at home. Get a big inflatable tent that’s so easy to put up and won’t ruin your marriage.
Get a powered site and bring a fridge or your coffee machine if you have to.
READ MORE:
* Travel Insider: A basic guide to tramping with kids
* Travel Insider: A first-timer’s guide to Waiheke Island
* Travel Insider: The best islands for first-time visitors to Fiji
There is no right or wrong with being outdoorsy and camping. If you want to rough it and go basic, do it. If you want all your creature comforts, there’s no judgement here.
Ditch the devices
Yes that means you too, parents. Kids need to make their own fun and the outdoors is the best place. Be good role models and join them. Reignite the child within by doing bombs off the jetty and building the best fort. Play spotlight, cook s’mores, make damper together on the campfire and swim until it’s dark.
Nighttime routines
Jennifer Parkes
Jennifer Parkes is the founder of Backyard Travel Family.
Keep babies and toddlers on their usual sleep routine. Bring their white noise if they need it and continue as they would at home.
Embrace the early rising
Yes, they will wake up with the sun. So you have two options. Buy a blackout tent or just embrace it and enjoy a holiday before the masses get up. Hit the playground before it gets crowded, take in a popular walk before anyone else, watch the sunrise (because how often do you actually do that?) and skip the line for coffee at the local.
