Beginner camper single parent

[TeaKitten]

Total newby to camping, I’m a single parent with 2 kids age 5 and 9. I’m thinking of buying relatively cheaply to see if we like it first. But is it realistic? I need a tent that’s manageable to put up with only kid help, ideally has a porch to store stuff in, and will also fit in my very small car with me and the kids. Will we just be miserable budget camping?

We love the idea of it but I’m worried about being too far from toilets (as I can’t leave the youngest especially), and struggling too much to get the tent up before my kids loose interest and decide they want to go home 😅

Get yourself on eBay OP if you filter for pre owned you can get a really decent tent that will fit you all for £50 or so.

Good for you OP! I started taking my kids camping as a single parent too. We've had so many great trips over the years.

You can absolutely get a cheap tent to start. I got a cheap tent from a cheap shop, but a good size... it's just falling apart now and it's probably about 13yo! Held up in awful weather, rain, wind etc.
However just looking at the one you linked.. no I wouldn't buy that! As PP said, single skin tents are terrific for condensation. Get the standard tent with an inner and outer. Re size, you should generally add 2, so look at a 5+ person tent for the 3 of you. Then you have room for your stuff.
As another PP mentioned about height... it's nice to have a tent you can stand in, but I do remember putting it up with only my kids, and you need to be tall and sometimes have a helpful breeze happening to be able to throw the fly over the inner without it getting snagged. So if you can tolerate not being able to stand up inside, a smaller/shorter tent is a lot easier to put up.

Everything else we also started with cheap stuff, sleeping bags etc, and slowly replaced it over the years as we figured out what exactly we wanted.

If you can manage to find a camping friend I'd recommend it too, so that when the kids run off to play, you have someone to sit and have a wine with!

Here is a video of how to put up a tunnel tent (of standing height) by yourself:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9r39I72Mpdw

And a 9 year old can very easily hold the pole into the ring and pin one side while you do the other to make it easier.

(Cross Camping videos cover lots of handy camping tips! )

One thing: whenever using fibreglass poles only push them through the tube, don’t pull. Pulling makes them come apart inside the tube, which is a pain.

You could try a pop up tent to begin with. I’ve done many camping trips with kids- you ALWAYS get colder than you think you would; even in summer it can get down to low single figures at night. Always get mats/ roll up foam bed base and wear fleeces for this reason. The ground us also harder than you think. Get the kids little rucksacks for their sleeping bags. Don’t expect yoyr kids to help to begin with, they get easily bored and will probably end up running around playing after the novelty of putting the tent up wears off. Go somewhere with plenty of activities for kids and plan for cold/rainy weather. Always double check the forecast with precipitation levels before you go- I had one tent fall down and get waterlogged at 3am after several inches of rain fell in a few hours. I always took some battery powered cheap fairy lights for a little bit if magic at night.

Overall, have fun! It’s a great adventure and teaches them lots of good skills and helps them connect with nature. They also appreciate home comforts so much more after.