Camping in France

[AnaMRT]

I just wanted to get some opinions if I'm overreacting. My DH’s brother suggested that they all go camping in France for the weekend as he’s done it before. Explained how easy it was to book campsites. He then suggested that my DH comes with our boys 5 and nearly 7. So they set off yesterday along with DH’s brother’s teenage sons 18 and 16 and their other brother. I got a message from DH last night saying the boys are sleeping and they arrived safely. This morning I get some photos of a beautiful view of the beach. They set up 3 tents on the beach and slept there. I don’t know any other details as to why but I’m really annoyed. I feel like agreed to the boys going to campsites not to sleep on the beach. Am I overreacting? Do people normally do this? Is it safer than I imagine? AIBU?

I trust him with the kids but ultimately they were in a situation where the campsite was closed as it was so late, which I found out about this morning. So they were in a vulnerable situation as they had to camp on a beach. It wasn’t planned and my husband was going with his brother that had assured us that he’s been recently and campsites were easy to book. His brother has form for extremely spontaneous behaviour and not thinking things through. That’s all well and good for adults to do but not when it affects my small children (5 and 6). So as a responsible mum I of course would’ve preferred that sleeping arrangement were organised beforehand considering their age, the time they arrived (late) and it being their first experience abroad camping. That’s not being controlling that’s being responsible. My husband could be the best dad in the world but he had found himself in a situation where he couldn’t do much about them not having anywhere to stay. He trusted his brother. I think deep down my DH wasn’t too happy he was in that situation as he was Very defensive on the phone this morning. I think on reflection he will want something a bit more organised next time. I hope! I just want to clarify that if the kids weren’t there I’d in all honesty not care one bit where they sleep. As long as I’d get the occasional message to tell me he’s alive I would just expect to see him back on Monday.

The campsite was closed so they had to sleep on the beach. It wasn’t organised without any prior research.

I spoke to them and they are okay. Not at all jealous as I encouraged them to go. I didn’t want them to miss out on a holiday due to us having a newborn.

Random beach as they didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Yes his brother was disorganised! He didn’t check the opening times. They will hopefully go to proper campsite tonight as they need to shower etc

I hope they are! I encouraged them to go as I didn’t want them to miss out due to us having a newborn.

Sounds brilliant!

The campsite was closed so they had to sleep on the beach. My DH didn’t have much choice as it was late and his brother didn’t do much research it turns out. They’ll go to a campsite today hopefully. I encouraged them to go as I didn’t want the boys to miss out on a holiday due to us having a newborn. So I hope they have the best time and make lots of memories and that they are safe.

I bet the boys thought it was great. It's obviously not ideal OP but seems like a sensible solution in the circumstances. There is no way they would be arrested or "spend the night in the cells" just for a few unprepared foreign blokes and two children missing a campsite's closing hours. At the very worst they would have been asked to move on (but they weren't). I think you're panicking unnecessarily about how foreign/strange/dangerous France is.

I’ve never been camping (and will try it when baby is bigger but it wouldn’t be my first choice for a weekend away) but I’m more than happy to encourage them to go.

Thank you for your response! We’ve had a horrendous post birth experience recently with some health scares so I think it’s made me very paranoid about the well-being and safety of my children. I’m feeling a lot better now that I’ve spoken to them.

Well, it was disorganised and silly of your DH's brother, but your boys had two grown men to protect them, and the worse they would have experienced would have been seeing Dad and Uncle Bill getting a ticking off from the police.

I get where you’re coming from. It’s one thing for a couple of older teenagers to do some unplanned wild camping but I can understand why you are a bit more concerned about small kids. But ultimately, your dp has got this. Let him take care of it. They are probably having a great time so enjoy a bit of time alone with the baby.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles I clearly said as long as it wasn't illegal 🥱

It doesn’t. Sound like that to me. It sounds like the OP is just taken aback and a little concerned, looking for reassurance.