We're thinking about taking our first camping trip as a family but I'm honestly kind of nervous about it. We have a 6 year old and a 4 year old. What are the must haves? Should we start with a campground close to home or is that lame? Any other families do this and have advice on keeping young kids entertained and safe? I want this to be fun and not a disaster.
Pro tip: bring way more snacks than you think you'll need. Like seriously, double whatever amount you're planning on. Kids get bored and hungry at the same time when they're outside all day.
Sleep might be rough the first night with the new environment but honestly that's half the adventure with little ones. You'll do fine.
6 and 4 is a solid age to start camping. The hardest part is keeping them entertained, but kids that age usually love just being outside and exploring.
Don't be nervous, you got this. Start with one night in the backyard if you can, helped us figure out what we actually need before going all in.
The nervousness is totally normal man. My advice is to pick a campground that's close to home for the first trip, that way you're not too far if something goes wrong and everyone feels more comfortable. We did a site like 20 minutes away and it made all the difference.
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Just took our daughter on her first camping trip last month and honestly it was way less scary than I thought it'd be. Start small with a backyard camp out first if you're really nervous. We did that and it made the real thing so much easier.