Camping is Hard work!
I remember when i was a kid, we would go camping. I remember thinking this is so easy i don't know why mom and dad are so tired? I finally figured out why camping is not relaxing for parents with children.
It's not easy getting there, because in order to pull a camper that fits all of us we have to go in the truck. Which means they are all squeezed in the back seat, elbow to elbow with each other. They already posses the ability to annoy each other with in seconds. It comes as no surprise when in the first 10 minutes they are crying and yelling at me to make the other one stop whatever they are doing. Turning on music doesn't make it any better, because we all like different kinds of music very rarely can i find something that might shut up everyone up! If you are trying to be a good parent you can't just turn on Lily Allen's "F**K YOU" song no matter how much you would like to! While getting there can be the hard part, the fact that i do most of the work to get us there is worst. Camping is hard work! first you have to book the site, if you are lucky you get a easy pull through site. If you don't you will be given a crazy slopped one that makes it impossible to level the bloody camper. You then have to make a list of everything you will need which is usually a mile long and that isn't a joke. If you don't want to spend a arm and leg at the park store buying everything you forgot for double the price then you better pay attention to the list! Multiple grocery trips later you think okay i have all the food and the laundry is going so i can fold all their clothes just to forget something important like the bathing suits. I have been that mom at the beach who forgot her bathing suit so i got in fully clothed because my kids are in the water. Fuck if i am not going in. Usually at this point i am covered in stress sweat that i need the dunk in the water just to smell a bit better for everyone else's sake! It does get better if you have a camp site close to the park you can send them over by themselves so that you can have 5 min to your self before they come running back because someone did something to someone and they don't like. I am one of those parents that will usually tell them to figure that shit out between themselves. They can't go through life not knowing how to work things out or calling me to ask what they should do every time. If they start calling when they are grown up for that kind of shit i will know i failed! Anyway so you get them to the camp site, you get to the beach for the first day and you stay all day! thinking o ya this a good idea they will sleep i will get a bit of quite before going to bed. Only to get back to your camp site to realize they are burnt and you know have to take them to a shower that you can't control the temp on, and the pressure in the shower could take your skin off. This is when the hysterics start because it's to hot and you have to wash their hair for them because they are to busy crying to do anything to help you. By the time you have them showered and dressed you need a shower because you have a new layer of stress sweat on you! You have never been more stinky in your life that this point. This repeats everyday until the day you finally pack up and go home.
While camping we make a BIG mistake! WE bought them a ice cream cone every day! Which resulted in my children getting home and right about the same time they started asking for ice cream like we had just spent the entire day outside! You can just imagine how it went when i said NO! They there minds with grief. Only after this did i come to realize my 9 year old who didn't have a fit, had gone back after i went up stairs and stole some ice cream. Clever little shit! Lets just say her Ipad got stolen after that!
We did this every day for 5 days, on the 3rd day i was ready to go home. I stuck it out because the kids were having fun so i tried my best to relax in those moments of seconds when they are out in the water or distracted by sand castle making! The reason why i put myself through this every year? The memories of fun family times i remember having while camping are some of the best! So i thought i would give some of the same memories
to my children. Suddenly camping doesn't seem that hard anymore. We only get so many summers with them before they move out and have a life of their own, so i intend to make the most of it! So when they are gone i can look back and think about all the fun times we had all the memories we made!
It's not easy getting there, because in order to pull a camper that fits all of us we have to go in the truck. Which means they are all squeezed in the back seat, elbow to elbow with each other. They already posses the ability to annoy each other with in seconds. It comes as no surprise when in the first 10 minutes they are crying and yelling at me to make the other one stop whatever they are doing. Turning on music doesn't make it any better, because we all like different kinds of music very rarely can i find something that might shut up everyone up! If you are trying to be a good parent you can't just turn on Lily Allen's "F**K YOU" song no matter how much you would like to! While getting there can be the hard part, the fact that i do most of the work to get us there is worst. Camping is hard work! first you have to book the site, if you are lucky you get a easy pull through site. If you don't you will be given a crazy slopped one that makes it impossible to level the bloody camper. You then have to make a list of everything you will need which is usually a mile long and that isn't a joke. If you don't want to spend a arm and leg at the park store buying everything you forgot for double the price then you better pay attention to the list! Multiple grocery trips later you think okay i have all the food and the laundry is going so i can fold all their clothes just to forget something important like the bathing suits. I have been that mom at the beach who forgot her bathing suit so i got in fully clothed because my kids are in the water. Fuck if i am not going in. Usually at this point i am covered in stress sweat that i need the dunk in the water just to smell a bit better for everyone else's sake! It does get better if you have a camp site close to the park you can send them over by themselves so that you can have 5 min to your self before they come running back because someone did something to someone and they don't like. I am one of those parents that will usually tell them to figure that shit out between themselves. They can't go through life not knowing how to work things out or calling me to ask what they should do every time. If they start calling when they are grown up for that kind of shit i will know i failed! Anyway so you get them to the camp site, you get to the beach for the first day and you stay all day! thinking o ya this a good idea they will sleep i will get a bit of quite before going to bed. Only to get back to your camp site to realize they are burnt and you know have to take them to a shower that you can't control the temp on, and the pressure in the shower could take your skin off. This is when the hysterics start because it's to hot and you have to wash their hair for them because they are to busy crying to do anything to help you. By the time you have them showered and dressed you need a shower because you have a new layer of stress sweat on you! You have never been more stinky in your life that this point. This repeats everyday until the day you finally pack up and go home.
While camping we make a BIG mistake! WE bought them a ice cream cone every day! Which resulted in my children getting home and right about the same time they started asking for ice cream like we had just spent the entire day outside! You can just imagine how it went when i said NO! They there minds with grief. Only after this did i come to realize my 9 year old who didn't have a fit, had gone back after i went up stairs and stole some ice cream. Clever little shit! Lets just say her Ipad got stolen after that!We did this every day for 5 days, on the 3rd day i was ready to go home. I stuck it out because the kids were having fun so i tried my best to relax in those moments of seconds when they are out in the water or distracted by sand castle making! The reason why i put myself through this every year? The memories of fun family times i remember having while camping are some of the best! So i thought i would give some of the same memories
to my children. Suddenly camping doesn't seem that hard anymore. We only get so many summers with them before they move out and have a life of their own, so i intend to make the most of it! So when they are gone i can look back and think about all the fun times we had all the memories we made!
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