As dads and families put Spring Break in the history books and begin to get ready for the end-of-school-year chaos, I thought it would be fitting to take a look at summer vacation planning. More specifically, I wanted to share why camping is the perfect family vacation experience.
For our family, camping evolved from a single tent-camping experience at an Arizona lake (yes, we have those!) to a gently-used travel trailer in which we spent over 180 nights over 8+ years. When we started camping, we borrowed a tent, bought some water jugs and camp stove, and threw together a menu of easily prepared meals. We stuffed it all into our minivan and headed north. It was an epic adventure for our young family not because of what we conquered, but because of what we discovered.
That first family camping trip started our realization that we didn’t need much to create a perfect family vacation. Our young family of six hiked local trails, rented a small boat on the lake, cooked over a fire, and even did dishes together. We may not have slept as well as we did at home, but then again with an infant who sleeps well at home either? Following our initial big-family camping trip we tent-camped a few more times before ultimately “upgrading” to our travel-trailer with four bunk beds, a kitchen, and a bathroom.
Six Reasons Camping is the Perfect Family Vacation
Between our tent camping experiences and our many days in a travel trailer, we learned some things about family vacations along the way. We want to share these with you in the hopes you might consider camping as your perfect family vacation!
1. Camping fosters family teamwork.
Camping is a team sport. It requires parents and kids work together to pack, set-up camp, cook, clean, and then take it all down. If you have a big family like ours, this forced collaboration can help kids who typically don’t interact much to do just that.
All of our kids were not the best of friends growing up, but when we pulled into a campsite, they had to work together to get things set-up. They also had to live within close proximity to each other. There was no escaping to their rooms. While these experiences did not make them best friends, they were at least reminded they were on the same team.
Perfect families don’t exist, but as parents, we should always strive to facilitate healthy family relationships. Camping just seems to foster these better than at home. Whether it’s building a campfire, going on a hike, or baiting a hook, there are more opportunities for everyone to connect. The result of this teamwork is a stronger and more resilient family.
2. Camping forces us to detox from our screens.
Let’s face it. Our kids are tethered to their screens. Their phones, tablets, and monitors are as much a part of their lives as oxygen and food. I’m not here to cast stones since we have six iPhones, two iPads, an iMac, a MacBook and two TVs in our house. (Listing them out makes me cringe!) Of course parents these days are not much better, but at least we knew a day without 24/7 connectivity and the phenomena known as “social media.”
Camping can facilitate at least a temporary hiatus from this technology. By design, camping involves nature. It is an experience that forces us to move away from technology and into the natural environment. To be fully transparent, our family still takes our phones and tablets with us when we camp. Even so, we find our “screen time” seems more out of place and less necessary when camping under the stars.
One of the elements of camping that contribute to this “detox” is the fact that technology requires electricity and the lack of it can force our kids, and us, to go a ‘natural. Without charged devices, we are left to our own creativity and the world around us. Instead of watching the latest YouTuber, we are compelled to go for a hike and explore the world around us. Going without our “screens” for a short time can break our dependency on the
3. Camping facilitates more expensive family vacations.
Camping on a budget has also allowed us to have consistent family trips in tents and trailers and then to splurge on a “big” family vacation every few years. Cycling between camping trips and a bigger, more expensive vacation has been an affordable methodology. It prevents a “feast or famine” mentality. It gives us all something to look forward to each year and provides for needed family downtime.
A few years ago we moved from northern Virginia back to Arizona. It was just before Christmas. Instead of heading west and making a beeline for the Copper State, we headed south to Disney World. We pulled into a KOA not far from the Disney metropolis and spent the next week exploring all Walt had to offer. We likely could not have afforded such a trip if we were staying in hotels, eating out, and paying airfare for six of us. When we weren’t exploring parks, we enjoyed an excellent campground facility. It was a win-win-win.
We have family who spends a week on the coast camping with friends each year. Their annual trek to the coast is not cheap if you factor in the cost of their trailer, but if you compare it to a weekly beach house rental, the equation starts to work in their favor. The same goes for mountain vistas and national parks. A few years back we all met in Death Valley in the Spring. Our travel trailers surely seemed luxurious to the tent campers staying not far from us, and yet we were all enjoying the rugged beauty of an incredible National Park. We had camping in common. You get the idea.
4. Camping creates an environment of contemplation.
Life is busy. Camping, by design, slows things down and allows us to think more and do less. It almost forces us to go from the hustle of our busy suburban/urban lives to a slower pace. I believe this is one reason why camping also resonates with so many families these days. Camping is a perfect family vacation because it gives us rest and recuperation.
This does not mean that camping can be a bit of work. This can be especially true when camping with little ones. We can’t just put them in front of the big screen or close their bedroom door at nap time. Even so, living amidst nature provides a different perspective on “busy.” We take the kids for a hike and stop to investigate the bugs crawling across the trail. We take the fishing poles down to the lake and spend hours casting and watching a bobber on the water. These spontaneous moments of amazement make parenthood the priceless experience it is.
These small moments also almost always provide amazing parent teaching moments. “Dad, why is the sky blue?” or “Dad, how many stars are there?” We may not always know the answer, but the ensuing dialogue with our kids is invaluable. Camping puts us in an unfamiliar environment where we stop and observe the world around us. It is a place where we can take stock of our lives as spouses and parents to not let either pass us by unknowingly.
5. Camping encourages community.
One of the surprising things we have found camping over the years is the strong sense of community between other campers. When we got our travel trailer and started staying in more developed campgrounds, we found that other campers were incredibly friendly and social. This was true whether they were in a tent or a large Class A motor home. Our kids saw us meeting new acquaintances, sharing meals, and comparing camping stories. They saw a side of a community often neglected in our own garage-first neighborhoods.
The community aspect of camping remains one of the most surprising elements of the experience. There are some who like to camp away from everyone and everything, so this aspect might seem less significant. Even those campers though have robust online groups and virtual communities where they share insights, discuss vehicles, and offer advice on locations.
Camping can better connect extended families, too. We live a full day’s drive from most of our siblings and their kids. Thankfully, they are all campers, too. About every other year, we pick a spot somewhat central to all of us during Spring Break and rendezvous for a collective camping trip. It is one of the highlights of the year for everyone because we get to enjoy community and family at their finest – around the campfire, board game, or dinner table. Camping with extended family makes it an even more perfect vacation!
6. Camping can be done at many levels.
One of the reasons I believe camping is the perfect family vacation is that it can be done on many different levels. As already mentioned, our first camping trip with kids involved a mini-van, a borrowed tent, a pack-n-play crib, and a few camping supplies from Walmart and Target. We stayed in a campground three miles from a Costco, yet it felt like the middle of the wilderness. We even celebrated after the camping trip with milkshakes on the way home. It was a glorious three days.
Fast forward a few years. We had a travel trailer with four bunk beds, a cold fridge, air-conditioning, and TV we took outside to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We had a view of the ocean on one trip, mountain forests on another, and lake in the middle of a desert on several others. They were still camping trips albeit with a new level of comfort. We played catch with a baseball, we had family card games, and we took the dog for a few laps around the park to meet other campers. These were all perfect family vacations.
The point is camping makes the perfect family vacation because you can make it as simple or complex as you like. You can venture to Cabela’s or REI and purchase thousands of dollars of gear and equipment, or you can scour Craigslist or garage sales. You can rent cabins at a KOA or rent a trailer and have it delivered to a favorite campground. Some might even choose to buy a used truck and trailer (i.e., us!) and head out on a cross-country adventure. In the end, you get to scale your investment and complexity. My experience has been that once you start down the path of family camping, it will be hard to stop. And that’s a beautiful thing!
In Closing
I know some guys who claim their wives would never want to “rough it” while camping. To those guys, I often say, “Then don’t.” Nowadays there are ways to rent tents, trailers, and several options in between. Sure camping can be a lot of work for families with little ones, but life is already a lot of work for those families. And as mentioned above, camping brings out the teamwork in all of us. If you are in the “I don’t think it would work for us” group, I challenge you to at least give it a try. I’m betting you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
For us, camping has become the most consistent memory-making experience for our family. We have a photo album full of moments to prove it. Even as I write this, I want to pack-up the truck and head out to a new adventure. In fact, this longing to hit the road and camp our way to new experiences is what helped fuel Suburban Dads. Camping and all its associated sights, sounds, smells, and tastes recharge our internal batteries every time. We want the same for you and your perfect family vacation.
Keep it up, dads! You’re making a difference.
Jeff