Camping with toddlers - am I mad?

[Piffpaffpoff]

Hi

Looking for a bit of advice from some more experienced campers! I am really keen to take my 2 and 4 yr olds camping this summer - nothing too drastic, just one or two nights relatively close to home BUT most of the time it will just be me and them, cos DH will be at work.

So my main question is, am I bonkers? Can you camp successfully with two toddlers without going completely mad, especially if - like me - you were not at the front of the queue when patience was being given out?

What tips would you give me to enable me to remain reasonably sane and make it a pleasant experience for all of us?

I'm getting Vango Icarus 600 and awning, which appears to be easy enough to put up singlehanded, and big enough to give us a bit of space to bounce around in should it rain (although my planned strategy for dealing with prolonged rain is to pack up and go home.)

Any advice gratefully received, even if it is DON'T DO IT!

do it.
get waterproof trousers and put them in them as soon as they get up.
It will be lovely

It will be great fun!! We take our 4 (8,4,2,16mo) camping all the time, i would recommend getting them each a little wind up torch to keep close at hand in the tent for night time.

Hooray, I'm so glad the first couple of posts have been positive. I was feeling all excited about it but most people that I have mentioned it to in RL (and who are not campers themselves) have looked at me like I have lost my mind!

Ok, similar worries here too (and DH will be with me!).
Went for 2 weeks and 1 weekend last year with 3 year old and 7 month old - sooooo easy - am worried this year as will have 4 year old and 18 month old. Not at all worried about the 4 year old who will be "chucked" outside every morning and will run and run and run till he drops at night! My worry is the 18 month old who is so far not looking like the clingy sort and will no doubt be wandering off at every opportunity. I'm guessing your situation with your 2 year old will be similar.

You absolutely must have a good playground that you can see from the front of your tent so ask for a pitch very near the play area - set the boundaries ie. "you can't go past that tree" etc. and just try to accept that the 4 year old at least is completely safe while you are cooking/ sorting pitch out etc. When camping, friendships will easily be made at the play area too.

I'm also worried about what to do with the children while we put our tent up (takes 2 of us) but as everyone on here will tell you, campers are very friendly helpful sorts and the people on the pitches near you are bound to come and give you a hand with the tent.

So as far as are you bonkers?, definitely not! Take plenty of wine (they will both be asleep at some point), let them get dirty and eat sausages for 2 days, take waterproof trousers for that early morning dew and enjoy!

I'll stop droning on now, hope that's been of some help. Good luck!

took my youngest from 3. they love it at this age and its so nice watching them having fun. i would choose one that doesn't look noisy at night - ie without a bar. something that says family orientated and no single sex groups.

how well do your children sleep - are they likely to wake at 6am? Tents obviously have no sound proofing and other campers (ie me) are likely to object to be woken this early on holiday. so if this is the case be prepared to put them in a pushchair/car and take them somewhere away from sleeping people.