Camping With Kids Isn't Easy, But I Promise It's Worth It - Condé Nast Traveler

I opened the new children’s-sized camping chair that I knew Isaac, my two-year-old son, would love, handed him a bag of his favorite gummy bunnies, and began to set up the tent.

I grew up camping with my family, but I hadn't done it in years. So for this first trip with Isaac, I borrowed all my supplies, tent included—I had even practiced setting it up at home before we set off for the western shores of Lake Superior. I stretched out the metal rods, which clicked magically into place, then lifted and attached the canvas. The roof arced up, I pushed the stakes into the ground, and voila: I'd completed the task I was fearing most. We had shelter. The water, stretched out before us across the wide horizon, seemed ready to provide a respite from this summer of COVID stress.

“Lake!” Isaac shouted. He hopped off the chair and dashed for the fence that stood between us and the twenty-foot sandy slope down to the beach. Just like that, my moment of satisfaction gave way to the sort of heart pounding that happens a few times each day with an active toddler.

A few weeks earlier, I had decided it was time to go camping with Isaac. Even if it meant going alone. When I told a friend about my plan on a video call, she'd stared back at me, eyebrows raised. “Alone?” she asked.

I reassured her that I knew another single mom who had just gone camping with kids—and with two little ones, no less. I was sure I could do it with one. I wasn’t expecting it to be the best trip of my life, sure, but it would be a chance to get out of town with Isaac and to introduce him to a new sort of vacation. And we needed a vacation.

Since quarantine began, I’ve barely been able to get my kitchen cleaned and my laundry done; the pile of clean clothes on my couch has become an art installation, the colors and shapes changing with each new load. Like many single moms right now, my only options to work are during Isaac’s naps and after his bedtime; when he’s awake, we hike, play, and take his tricycle around the neighborhood. And, like all parents of young children these days, I’m exhausted. A two-year-old and a tent might not sound like a chance to unwind to most, but Isaac enjoys the outdoors—and with most other travel possibilities halted for the summer, this seemed like the time to give it a try.

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Camping With Kids Isn't Easy, But I Promise It's Worth It - Condé Nast Traveler
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