Camping with a Toddler
Camping with a toddler is a lot like parenting in general. Mostly it is all about terror, panic, stress, and worry - punctuated by moments of wonder and beauty.
For terror, look no farther than the playground, and watch my 18 month old son, who incidentally does not grasp the whole concept of gravity yet, climb fearlessly to the top of the old metal playground slide and refuse your help in doing so.
For panic, try going to the beach and watching the child who does not know how to swim and thinks it funny when a wave crashes over his head run into the water and wade out until it is up to his shoulders. Granted - that's not quite 2 feet deep - but it is still deeper than he can manage to get back up if he falls.
Stress is found back at the campsite where the child who gets faster every single day decides to make a run for it in the woods. How many times do mom and dad have to run after him and bring him back before he figures out that he needs to stay close by? I don't know. We weren't there long enough to find out.
Worry takes new meaning when you become a parent. I always heard that, and I know that is it true. Worry is making sure that he stays away from the fire pit, away from the grill, that he doesn't get too much sun, that it is not too hot in the tent when he is sleeping, that he doesn't get bit by mosquitos, that he doesn't find poison ivy, that he doesn't play in anthills, that he doesn't get stung by anything...
and then there is the moment when the all three of us are sitting around the picnic table having breakfast together as a family. That moment alone was worth the price of admission. There is the picture of him sitting on the bench with his mother feeding each other hot dogs. How perfect is that? There is getting to stay together, all three of us, for an entire weekend and nobody having to go to work or shopping or anywhere the rest of us can not go.
and then of course, there is the storm.
There is the thunder that woke Aiden up, and him screaming in terror and clinging to us as the rain pounded the tent. Then there was the rain coming through to inside the tent. that was fun too.
fortunately for Aiden, there is very little that Elmo can not fix, so as we strapped him in to his carseat and turned on his video, he could laugh through the rest of the storm as he watched out the window as his crazy parents got drenched taking down the tent and packing everything away.
terror, panic, stress, worry, wonder, beauty, and a whole lot of rain.
I wouldn't trade a minute of it.
For terror, look no farther than the playground, and watch my 18 month old son, who incidentally does not grasp the whole concept of gravity yet, climb fearlessly to the top of the old metal playground slide and refuse your help in doing so.
For panic, try going to the beach and watching the child who does not know how to swim and thinks it funny when a wave crashes over his head run into the water and wade out until it is up to his shoulders. Granted - that's not quite 2 feet deep - but it is still deeper than he can manage to get back up if he falls.
Stress is found back at the campsite where the child who gets faster every single day decides to make a run for it in the woods. How many times do mom and dad have to run after him and bring him back before he figures out that he needs to stay close by? I don't know. We weren't there long enough to find out.
Worry takes new meaning when you become a parent. I always heard that, and I know that is it true. Worry is making sure that he stays away from the fire pit, away from the grill, that he doesn't get too much sun, that it is not too hot in the tent when he is sleeping, that he doesn't get bit by mosquitos, that he doesn't find poison ivy, that he doesn't play in anthills, that he doesn't get stung by anything...
and then there is the moment when the all three of us are sitting around the picnic table having breakfast together as a family. That moment alone was worth the price of admission. There is the picture of him sitting on the bench with his mother feeding each other hot dogs. How perfect is that? There is getting to stay together, all three of us, for an entire weekend and nobody having to go to work or shopping or anywhere the rest of us can not go.
and then of course, there is the storm.
There is the thunder that woke Aiden up, and him screaming in terror and clinging to us as the rain pounded the tent. Then there was the rain coming through to inside the tent. that was fun too.
fortunately for Aiden, there is very little that Elmo can not fix, so as we strapped him in to his carseat and turned on his video, he could laugh through the rest of the storm as he watched out the window as his crazy parents got drenched taking down the tent and packing everything away.
terror, panic, stress, worry, wonder, beauty, and a whole lot of rain.
I wouldn't trade a minute of it.
posted by Jeff at 4:36 PM
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