Single parent advice needed...

[Hidinginthewoods]

Hi,
I would like to start going camping with my 2 DS's , eldest ASD.

I have been randomly bidding looking at tents on E-bay but found this topic & you all seem to know your stuff, however it's left me doubting the whole camping thing

Wondered if anyone could help me with a few things I previously hadn't considered being a novice camper?

What tent should I use for 3 (but sometimes 5) of us?
I really hadn't considered either the weight or how I was going to put it up on my own (my DS's can maybe pass tent pegs but have limited attention span)
&
Should I buy a porta loo ? DS's would need toilet thru eve/night & don't fancy waking both up to go & can't leave them on own for me to go either.

Anything else I should think of?
~TIA~

How old are the children? How much space do you want? Will you be going by car?

I've gone quite a few times with my neice and nephew, with 2 hairy dogs and we slept well in my 4 man pop up Quechua tent, keeping a lot of our stuff in the car until needed.

That was really straight forward, shake to unfold, and peg out.

I watched the on line videos and practised putting it down a few times.

As for the loo, a bucket with a lid is your friend!

Most tents can be put up on your own but pop ups really takes the hassle away!

DS's are 5 & 13, ideally would like living area & 2 x bedrooms, then when DD & her OH visit they can have 1 & I'd go in with boys.

We'd always go by car & I have done really long 'day camping' with them
(6am til 9pm) on the beach/woods etc so have got a useful amount of kit already, but no tent so far. The places I'm keen to explore are similar so wouldn't need car for duration of stay, so storage won't be an issue then.

I didn't know there are larger pop up tents I keep getting distracted by 6 man tunnel tents

Bucket with lid sounds easier to 'maintain', thanks!

I'd say at that age they can make themselves very useful!

My niece is now just turned 14 & nephew 10, but when we first went it was about 5 years ago, and I "allocated" jobs, which was all part of the fun!

So stuff like fetching water, blowing up the air beds etc works well, with a reward of hot chocolate, campfire & marshmallows once we are set up! But they knew that was part of the deal if they wanted to go camping.

If you fancy a tunnel tent, I'm sure with the help of the DC you'll have no problems. Check out this video if he can set up a monster like that on his own in 8 minutes, you could manage it in an hour as a team! (Although I would practise in the Garden first :))