14 reasons to go tent camping with kids – and 5 why you shouldn’t!
Tent camping with kids has many benefits and is a budget friendly way to travel with children but it is not the easiest or most relaxing way to travel for parents!
We have enjoyed unforgettable camping experiences in pristine locations surrounded by wildlife but we have also had forgettable trips where I have chanted ‘never again’ over and over inside my frazzled mind.
But despite the occasional bad experience, we continue to go camping with our kids.
So why should you go tent camping with kids and what are the reasons why you shouldn’t?
Table of Contents
14 reasons why you should go tent camping with kids
1. Family time
You cannot avoid family time when camping with the kids.
Camping days are long, particularly in summer, and with little distractions or household chores you will inevitably spend a lot of time together. There is no bedroom/shed/larder/home office to retreat to or hide in!
You will not be able to charge devices if you opt for a non EHU pitch (camping lingo for non electric hook up) which will also result in more family time. No Netflix, no excuse not to play a family camping game together.
Plus camping provides a chance for busy families who run on different schedules to eat together as a family.
2. Camping allows you to reconnect with nature and ‘The Great Outdoors’
Camping involves spending lots of time outside in fresh air even if you do not do any outdoorsy activities such as hiking or cycling.
Most campsites – including U.K campsites – are in rural areas, in woodland, on farms or by the beach and provide families the opportunity to reconnect with nature as well as with each other.
Watch the sunset as a family, enjoy stargazing, hear a hooting owl on traffic less nights or wake up to the dawn chorus rather than an alarm clock.
3. Camping leads to new experiences
Going tent camping gives you a wide variety of places you can visit.
We have camped (legally!) in city centre car parks and urban show grounds, on farms and field sites as well as on isolated beaches and wilderness locations.
Camping can also make expensive destinations more accessible as there are campsites on the edge of cities. For example, you can camp just 6 miles from Edinburgh and 8 miles from central London so a camping trip does not have to be in the middle of nowhere with ‘nothing to do.’
4. Camping is budget friendly
You could spend thousands on the latest top of the range tent and equipment but you can also pick up some amazing second hand camping bargains that will last for years.
And if you self cater, a camping holiday can be fantastic value for money – we average around £30-£35 per night for a family of five.
Campsites with a pool and entertainment will cost more but sites can also cost much less or nothing at all.
In New Zealand and Australia we took advantage of the freedom camping initiative which meant as long as we were self contained we could camp in designated sites throughout the country for free. In the U.K, the Nearly Wild Camping Club aims to match campers with independent, temporary campsites and private landowners.
5. Tent camping with kids is a slower pace of travel
There is no dinner to dress up for when tent camping with kids (though you can if you want to!), no evening entertainment to bag a seat for, no breakfast slots, timetabled excursions or schedules to keep.
Camping automatically makes you slow down and enjoy the moment rather than rushing round for fear of missing out on the area’s must do attractions.
Our camping trips are packed with activity and yet they always seem less hurried and much slower paced than our non camping trips.
6. Kids will develop a sense of exploration and adventure.
You don’t have to visit far flung places for your kids to develop a love of travel and exploration. You just have to visit somewhere different and do something different and a family camping trip provides that opportunity.
I did not travel abroad until I was sixteen and I credit my love of exploring from the caravan holidays and camping adventures I enjoyed as a child in the U.K.
Though times may have changed, camping still allows children to explore a with a little more freedom than on a busy resort or on an urban trip.
7. You will develop problem solving skills you never knew you had
If/when your tent starts leaking in the middle of the night, there is only yourselves to rely on. There is no concierge or holiday rep.
Camping necessitates problem solving and camping with kids means you will solve problems together as a family. I have been surprised how many times it has been the kids who have provided the solution to our camping problem.
8. Camping builds resilience
The camping problems that you will inevitably encounter (and that will develop your problem solving skills) will build resilience in your kids. They (and you) may not know it at the time but it will.
9. Kids learn how to make do with less
You cannot bring as much personal luggage on a family camping trip as you can to an Airbnb property or a hotel. There just isn’t the space either in your tent, on your back or in your car. So families that go camping learn to make do with less.
Kids will find their own entertainment when they do not have toys or gadgets to play with.
We credit our years of camping as preparation for travelling hand luggage only on our family gap year.
10. Camping builds organisational skills
There is very limited space inside a tent or motorhome so campers learn quickly that very item has to have a home.
Organised camping means more space, less stress and easier packing and unpacking.
Drying wet clothes, keeping dirt out of the tent, storing camping chairs cooking on a tiny stove with limited utensils all require good organisational skills.
11. You will join a new community
There is a thriving family camping community who are happy to help and advise.
On site, campers like to socialise whilst washing up or at the water refilling station and kids naturally gravitate to each other to make new friends. If you have a problem with your tent or equipment, find a similar tent and people will be happy to advise.
Join camping social media groups to ask questions or seek recommendations of sites or equipment.
12. Camping makes you appreciate resources
It may be a cliche but it is true; camping will make you appreciate the resources you have.
When you have to lug a water butt across a campsite you immediately learn to ration water and use it carefully.
An electric light, heater and running tap will feel like luxuries when you return home and as for a flushing loo and hot shower…
13. Camping is a great opportunity to get one on one time with your kids
We have found that tent camping with our kids lends itself to one on one opportunities with each of our children.
It can be as mundane as parent and child washing up or refilling water carriers or going for a walk whilst everyone is doing chores or snoozing.
We find it doesn’t matter what the activity is, it just matters that it happens.
14. Children get to see the stars
One of my favourite aspects of my childhood camping trips was that I knew I would get to see the stars at night.
I grew up under the orange glow of a London sky when seeing one or two stars at night was the norm.
But on our family camping trips around rural England and Wales, I remember being spellbound by the array of stars I could see.
When was the last time your child saw the Milky Way?
Reasons why you shouldn’t go tent camping with kids – and what you can do about it
1. Tent camping with kids is exhausting for parents.
Tent camping with kids is not a restful family holiday, particularly is you go camping with young kids. I never appreciated how tired my parents must have been bringing four kids camping until I brought my own three children camping.
Camping involves A LOT of pre trip packing – much more than if you were going to a hotel or Airbnb.
Then you have to squeeze it all into the car.
When you arrive at your destination you will not be able to relax with a cold drink until you have erected your tent, put out your camping chairs, inflated your airbed and unrolled your sleeping bag. And then you have to find the cups for a drink…
The daily ins and out of camping with kids is less tiring but each day will involve multiple treks to the toilet or water tap in addition to the endless meal prep and tidying; enough to make you daydream of an all inclusive holiday.
Then you get home there is the airing/washing/checking/restocking of equipment and supplies in addition to the usual post family trip washing pile.
And though camping lends itself to lots of special family time, it does not lend itself to lots of ‘me’ time.
What can be done
Be ruthless in what you bring on family camping trips. Do you really need everything on your ideal family camping list?
Delegate. Unless you are travelling with a baby or toddler, delegate daily jobs wherever possible.
Don’t feel you have to do everything at once when you arrive at a campsite. Find a chair and relax before tackling the tent if that is what you wish to do.
Pack away as much as you can the night before you depart a site. Even a little pre packing will make the fraught departure morning a little easier.
You will find that your family quickly slips into a camping routine and daily camping chores will soon become the norm. Look at them as part of the camping with kids experience rather than a chore.
Take it in turns to give each other some time out, whether it is in the tent with a good book or on a solo walk.
Remember, the more you go camping with kids, the easier it gets.
2. Camping can be challenging in bad weather.
A strong wind or the constant drumming of heavy rain on your flimsy tent fabric is enough to ruin a good nights sleep.
And if your tent pole snaps or your tent starts to leak, your nightmare is only just beginning.
A slippy, muddy campsite is not fun and the inability to dry shoes or clothes is enough to make even the toughest campers weep.
What you can do
I know it sounds obvious but check the weather forecast for where you are going – especially if you are family camping in the U.K. Last year we did not check the weather forecast before an impromptu trip and camped in Yorkshire during Storm Francis. Never again!
If the weather forecast is really bad, I’d consider rescheduling or at least curtailing your trip. Erecting a tent in the rain is no fun and putting a tent away in the rain only means you will have to get it out again at home to dry it off.
Always pack gaffer tape and a tarpaulin in case of bad weather and damage to your tent.
Pack appropriate clothing for bad weather including adequate footwear – wellies or hiking boots are ideal.
Many established campsites offer washing machines and tumble dryers in their facilities (a bonus when going tent camping with kids) but there is also no shame in finding the nearest laundry to dry your clothes, something we have done many times.
3. Camping can be challenging in hot weather
Tents can get uncomfortably hot for sleeping and will quickly get hotter soon after sun rise.
If you are camping without electricity, keeping food cool – and safe – can be tricky.
And then there are the dreaded midges or mosquitoes.
What you can do
Learn to love getting up early!
Consider leaving sleeping bags at home and packing lightweight sleeping liners or bring a portable fan.
Always bring heavy duty insect repellent, just in case. Read recent reviews on your chosen campsite or destination to determine whether insects could be a problem.
On one camping trip to the Yorkshire Dales we arrived to a unexpected swarm of biting midges as no recent reviews had mentioned insects.We were bitten several times but if I hadn’t packed our Smidge repellent, we would have been eaten alive.
4. Noisy neighbours
Depending on how isolated or how busy your campsite is expect some noise from your neighbours whether they be human or animal.
Voices carry across an open field, music even more so.
What you can do
If I’m honest, not a lot. A quiet campsite is often just luck.
But do read reviews of your chosen campsite on different websites to gauge accurate descriptions. If reviews say ‘lively’ or ‘party’ avoid like the plague.
Many sites do not allow single sex groups or hen or stag parties. If yours does, it may not be the right campsite for your family. If a quiet night is important, choose a campsite with a night time noise curfew. You will find that campers prepared to be quiet are the ones who choose these sites which results in a quiet night for everyone.
Pack ear plugs and an eyeshade. This will always help with the early wake up you get when tent camping!
5. Tent camping gear uses a lot of space
You may have suitcases languishing in your loft or garage for their annual two week outing, but do you have a tent, sleeping bags, camping chairs, mattresses, stove etc?
Your garage, loft or shed will be crammed with camping equipment all year round.
What you can do
Camping necessitates at least a tent and a sleeping bag but be ruthless, you don’t need every piece of camping equipment available in the shops.
Try to store equipment in stackable boxes wherever possible.
It is these downsides of camping that often put people off going tent camping with their kids but though people are happy to share nightmare tales, fewer people sing the praises of family camping trips.
We have endured some terrible camping trips ranging from storms, midge swarms, sickness and 24 hour partying – and yet we still camp with our kids every chance we get as we believe it brings so many benefits to our family.
We learn from each bad experience and use it to have more successful future trips.
Have you been tent camping with kids? What were your highlights – and lowlights?
