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Camping

Our UK Camping forum has all the information you need on finding the right equipment for your tent or caravan.

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Original poster

campsite etiquette. children running around at 7am?

20 replies

tyaca · 24/05/2011 22:38

first camping trip next week. going to forgewood, looking forward to woods, bit of wild and campfires.

tonight i've been reading reviews of other sites offering same kind of thing. in one review (maybe of welsummer?), the reviewer complained about families who thought it was acceptable to let children run around at 7am. he didn't mention kids in question being noisy.

i have a 2 and a 3 yo, they will be up very very early. what are the unspoken rules?

OP posts:

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 24/05/2011 22:44

Well, kids do get up early imho.

But it's tricky because other people will want to sleep in.

No rules as such, but I'd try to keep them quieter first thing. Personally.

But if the reviewer really can't abide kids being quieter kids at 7am, maybe he should have gone to a campsite which doesn't allow kids.

LoopyLoopsBettyBoops · 24/05/2011 23:29

Try and keep them as quiet as possible before 9, 7 really is very early when you're on holiday, even if you have kids for many. You can't help it though if your toddlers are a bit noisy.

Nikkid21 · 25/05/2011 08:18

We keep the children in the tent to 8 and don't let them get into full noisy mode until 9ish.

I had a bad experience at wowo where the children were all playing around the back of our tent, shreiking at 7am. This is because their parents were still sleeping in and they had sent them away from their tent because they were too noisy.

Slubberdegullion · 25/05/2011 09:33

What Loopy and Nikki said. Deffo no running around outside screechy noise before 9am

deepdarkwood · 25/05/2011 09:38

My vague rule of thumb is: 7-8am, quiet, in tents if possible. 8-9am, breakfast noises, 9am onwards, anything is fair game. But my two are 5 &7 now, so easier to get them to sit in the tent and read for a bit. They also always stay up later when camping, so get up later.

I do think any unsupervised children/noise before 8am are a bit much.

needanewname · 25/05/2011 10:20

I tend to keep ours quiet till about 8am, really tough after that. THough we also let them stay up late at night so that they sleep in on the morning!

GnomeDePlume · 25/05/2011 15:31

If your children are up early, take them for a walk away from the tents. Most campsites I have been to have some 'non-camping' areas. Early morning can be a magical time. There is no need to get properly dressed just wellies on, warm clothes on top of PJs and go.

Not allowing children to disturb others early is only the other side of the coin from not disturbing others late at night.

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 25/05/2011 16:29

I go with what everyone else on site is doing, most sites I go to are really strictly families with maybe some walkers thrown in for good measure. It is usually as silent as the grave by 10pm and then everyone is up early, last year at Deepdale most people seemed to be leaving for their days out by 8.30ish so were up waaaaaay before then.

There were kids running about from 7am ish, so that's when mine were let loose too.

I think camping with a lot of like minded people is far better, its when you have a mix of party crowd and families that things start to go badly wrong.

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 25/05/2011 16:34

We have similar rules to others, lots of shushing before 8am, brekkie and chatting noise after 8am, no running about before 9am.

TBH I would be happier with children running about in the morning than noise late at night.

LoopyLoopsBettyBoops · 25/05/2011 17:29

I think the only people happier with children running about in the morning than noise late at night are people with children.

Original poster

tyaca · 25/05/2011 20:38

cheers all. common sense i guess - my two not especially noisy or shrieky, just early-risers and active . also i have just forgotten what non-parents (or people with older kids) might think constitutes an early morning. 7am is a lie in here . . .

OP posts:

Grockle · 26/05/2011 20:20

I tend to do what others have said:

7-8 = quiet
8-9 = quite chatter and breakfasty sounds
9 onwards - anything

DSs (6, 5, 4) stay up late when we camp and last time I had to wake them up at 9am because we wanted to go out and they were all still fast asleep!

BUT I tend to take into account how considerate other people were the previous night. So, when the noisy bastards opposite us were drinking, swearing and playing loud music til 1.30am, I felt it not unreasonable to allow 3 small boys to play and chatter noisily near their tents at 8.30. Perhaps I was being unreasonable but I think it works both ways - if you keep people awake all night, you can't expect them to allow you to sleep in. It's either a quiet site, or its not.

bilblio · 26/05/2011 21:24

We go with Gnome's method. If DD wakes really early we take her elsewhere where she can be noisy (and one of us can get more sleep.) She's generally quiet till about 8 though (persuaded with books and brioche.)

Actually we've been really lucky that we always try to go camping at quiet times. So there's rarely anyone to disturb.
The first camping trip with DD there were 3 tents in the field. Then a group of lads came at 11pm, radios blaring and pitched their tents. They weren't that close, but the sounds of drunkeness and tent pegs being hammered in until midnight was a bit much.
All the other campers were a long way off from us so we almost encouraged DD to run down the hill screeching at 6:30am. :o

MamaVoo · 27/05/2011 14:22

I find a secret stash of Cbeebies type magazines and stickers hidden in the boot of the car is handy to bring out for something quiet to do on early mornings camping.

Mandy21 · 27/05/2011 16:51

Even with 3 DCs of my own (one of which is not yet 2 and definitely an early riser) I would be very upset with children running around at 7am. Thats just not the done thing in my opinion even on a family oriented site. If children are awake before then, they should stay inside and be quiet. If you have children that can't be, then they need to go away from the other tents, with a parent, and come back at 8.30-9ish!

lostinindia · 27/05/2011 17:11

I hadn't even considered this. My DD wakes up at 5am and it's virtually impossible to keep her quiet and I imagine more so in a tent. Guess we'll be camping in a field on our own. :(

Ragwort · 27/05/2011 17:15

Oh dear - just realised why we get all the dirty looks when we are camping - my DH is always up early making breakfast etc at 7am - DS not shrieking but certainly up and about .

Oblomov · 27/05/2011 17:28

I try really hard to keep my two quiet, 7 and 2, but it is so hard. But I do 'know' the rules that everyone has stated, so I really do try.

Grockle · 04/06/2011 21:26

Well, this week I was woken at 6.15 by 3 children playing behind our tent WITH their mother . I did politely ask if they realized what the time was and suggested they play near their own tent. They seemed a little reluctant to go so I stood and glared with my mad bed hair and muttered about inconsiderate campers and they shuffled away. Grrr

bigTillyMint · 04/06/2011 22:06

If you are camping in France, you will probably find that it is very quiet until at least 9 if not 10am. Get them into going to bed much later and waking up later if you can - it used to take mine a couple of days, but was well worth persevering

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