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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To worry so much about safety of camping with young children that I'll probably never do it?!

70 replies

principalitygirl · 27/01/2014 23:17

I'd love to take DS toddler on camping holidays, now and in the future, both 'take your own tent' style and Eurocamp style fixed tents. But I worry so much about safety - mainly being in a deep sleep and someone taking DS from tent...
DH thinks I'm totally over-worrying...
AIBU?

OP posts:

mrsjavierbardem · 28/01/2014 00:37

I camped as a child and it was heaven, campers give their kids a very special connection with outside and a relatively simple life.
However I am not a great parent camper! Ime parent campers are organised people who have leadership and fortitude within them.
I've only done festival camping which is always fabulous and a family scout camp.
Being outside turns kids back into themselves IMO, they drift into the present & seem to really love it.

mrsjavierbardem · 28/01/2014 00:39

Also statistically you should worry far more about getting into a car with yr child than a tent.

Mandy2003 · 28/01/2014 00:41

A battery powered motion alarm would reassure you in the night I think. I have put one on caravan doors before.

uselessinformation · 28/01/2014 00:46

Get a tent with the sleeping compartment at one end and all bunk in together, kids in the middle. It's much more fun for the kids that way.

TheZeeTeam · 28/01/2014 01:00

mrsjavier I would never describe myself as having leadership and fortitude but, interestingly, when we camp I DO feel as that is my role. It clearly brings the Girl Scout out of my everyday Princess!!

steff13 · 28/01/2014 03:39

I've never been camping. I'm not what you'd call "outdoorsy." I know it's irrational, but how do people not get killed when they go camping. Aren't the woods full of serial killers and bears and chupacabras?

sashh · 28/01/2014 07:53

If you worry about your children getting snatched never go to B and Q or any other similar DIY places.

Apparently (according to an pedophile interviewed on TV) they are ideal as parents are distracted. It is particularly easy if the parents are doing something like buying a kitchen and are sitting down talking to an adviser.

Kids get bored and wander off. Shelves are high so can't be seen over.

bodygoingsouth · 28/01/2014 08:04

God rather be a princess, hated the guides, far too hearty for me. yeuk yeuk.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 28/01/2014 08:16

I used to worry too, but about the safety aspect of gas cooking with four small children. So we only camp where we can get electric hook-up and take a 4-in-1 tefal rice/pasta/porridge cooker.

Next summer they will be 14, 12, 10 and 10, so I might try to overcome my anxiety and buy a camping stove.

MrsKCastle · 28/01/2014 08:27

Yes, YABU! When you're all sharing a tent you hear the slightest rustle as they turn over in their sleeping bags. It is extremely unlikely that a toddler could escape or be taken without you hearing. I've camped lots of times with mine, and my eldest is 5. Being too deeply asleep is not a problem I've yet experienced!

TheGreatHunt · 28/01/2014 08:28

YABU

although I slept in the same "room" as my DCs when we went and had one eye open

TheGreatHunt · 28/01/2014 08:32

sashh really?! Scaremongering much!

Original poster

principalitygirl · 28/01/2014 08:34

I neglected to say in my original post that while at uni I worked a summer abroad for one of the big self drive camping companies. That involved living in one of their large tents with four others - each with our own sleeping compartment - and a shared tent for cooking and chilling with 12 people in total - for 3 months. I was much younger then obviously...!!!! The shower block and trips to the other block to wash the cooking and eating utensils of a large group were a pain though. I festival-camped once and HATED it but we certainly didn't pack v well which didn't help.

I've stayed in a mobile home on a campsite more recently but not since having children. Was ok but v poky and felt more secure but still not great. Mobile homes aren't v secure as I learned when I worked on a campsite. We found that the keys of one could open others. Didn't tell guests obviously. Apparently they're all like that which is why we advised to keep valuables locked in car. I don't mean to worry others, and security has no doubt improved recently though.

I'm still worried despite being in an obvious minority on this. I like the suggestion of a motion sensor and pegging the entrance closed. A knife would be handy for escaping in an emergency.

I know the chances are v slim but I guess no-one would have expected Madeline McCann to be taken - I know this is a bit different as she was left alone, which I would never ever do with DS, but she still got snatched from a locked apartment with no resolution.

OP posts:

Original poster

principalitygirl · 28/01/2014 08:37

Oh, and that's terrifying but useful info re B and Q etc saash!

OP posts:

chemenger · 28/01/2014 08:39

Friday I laugh in the face of your badger in the awning, we had a skunk between the flysheet and the inner. DH also claims he saw a bear when he went to the loo in the night but I am pretty sure it was a big raccoon. I like US style camping, they don't seem to go in for all the huge tents and fancy gear that is fashionable over here, a firepit and a picnic table, a basic tent and a cooler is all people seem to have. Oh, and good weather.

MorrisZapp · 28/01/2014 08:44

That's illogical. Camping in a tent with your kids has nothing to do with somebody taking a child through the window of a building.

People who live on the ground floor and don't share a room with their kids are at higher risk of what you describe than people camping with their kids beside them.

cory · 28/01/2014 08:45

What mrsjavier said. I can never get my head round all these parents worrying about minimal risks, yet on a daily basis exposing their children to something that statistics show us is actually fairly dangerous.

As far as statistics go, you're probably a good deal safer from serial killers prowling your tent than from drunken drivers mounting the pavement while you walk your children to school.

littledrummergirl · 28/01/2014 08:47

The first time we went was for two nights as a trial fairly local. Ds2 was six months old and kept rolling out under the canvass. Luckily the bedroom compartment was fully contained.
We loved it and now go camping most years, however we bought a better tent to contain dc and a seperate kitchen tent which they are not allowed in.

expatinscotland · 28/01/2014 08:53

Sleep in the same compartment. As for worrying about the stove, get a utility tent.

RufusTheReindeer · 28/01/2014 08:59

Nobody took my Children and I had an invite outside the tent!!!!

If you haven't got a tent already if you find one that has a very large sleeping area you can all sleep in there together

My husband used to sleep across the entrance of the sleeping area, but that was to stop any nocturnal wanderings

Original poster

principalitygirl · 28/01/2014 09:00

MorrisZapp - you're right, but I wouldn't stay in a ground floor apartment and always ruled out living in a ground floor flat or bungalow for the same reason. I was more meaning to highlight that just because something seems unlikely doesn't mean it will never happen.

Yes, we all have to take certain risks day by day - kids have to leave the house etc - but I guess we all try to
minimise risks as far as possible? I also take statistics with a pinch of salt as they can be - and regularly are - misrepresented. More or Less on Radio 4 regularly exposes this. Hmmm, might have to contact them to get their view on all this!

I know some parents have a v relaxed attitude to risk though. On our last holiday the German family left their six month old asleep in their ground floor apartment with patio doors while they went for dinner every evening. Hotel restaurant was about 300m away. They were both high school teachers with a five year old who had obviously survived such treatment but I was still completely shocked when they told us this is what they were doing. Abduction aside, what if he became unwell or just cried himself silly?!

OP posts:

SolomanDaisy · 28/01/2014 09:02

There was actually a serial rapist attacking children / teenagers in campsites in the south of France last year. They targeted young people sleeping in those separate tents you can hire with eurocamp etc. though and were caught pretty quickly. I think the risks are very low if you're all in one tent/caravan, as you can hear everything. I'm more concerned about DS going for a wander, but he sleeps in a sleeping bag which he can only undo very noisily!

expatinscotland · 28/01/2014 09:07

You can buy alarms to fit on windows in ground floor flats.

cory · 28/01/2014 09:14

principalitygirl Tue 28-Jan-14 09:00:29

"Yes, we all have to take certain risks day by day - kids have to leave the house etc - but I guess we all try to
minimise risks as far as possible?"

Do we? Are you hand on heart saying that you have never made a car journey with your dc that wasn't strictly necessary? You only ever do it to save their lives or provide them with vital education or food? Never ever just a car journey to potter around town or go to softplay or buy them a Barbie magazine or some sweets?

The truth is, we all take totally unnecessary risks every day in the interest of enjoyment, relaxation and mental health. Or just because we feel like it.

To me, exploring nature is far more important to children's development and wellbeing than most of the urban walks or car journeys we undertake on a regular basis. It is also a good deal safer.

Livvylongpants · 28/01/2014 09:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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