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Taking my son camping this week (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 3 days ago by to c/camping@sh.itjust.works
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My sons 4 and pretty much since he could talk we've been talking hiking the Appalachian trail together someday.

He doesn't know what that really means, i probably said i always wanted to at some point and he internalized it deeply.

So this year we've been testing the waters with camping.

The first time we went was perfect, we did a 12 mile hike one day, where i only carried him for 4 miles which was incredible. The second time we tried camping there was a very unfortunate incident with a little girl in a lake and it left him (and me) a little traumatized so we went home on the first day.

Now a couple months later, thinking his love for camping had been destroyed before he really found it, he's off of school this week and begged me to go camping. So naturally i took of work and said hell yeah, booked up a couple nights at the first campground we went to which is much more secluded and my speed anyway, I'm not a fan of the campground with pretty much waterparks (no judgement if you are).

I'm hoping everything goes smoothly and we can plan some winter camping after this!

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[–] 1 point 2 days ago

I think it's our responsibility as parents who enjoy the outdoors to pass this type of stuff on and make sure it's a positive an experience as possible (sorry to hear about that incident on your second trip!). We need future generations to not only care about the environment in a vague sense but to have a personal connection to it.

I took my son for the first time when he was four. The next year, we went three times, in spring, summer, and fall. We didn't get an opportunity to go away the year after that but our property is nice and wooded so we camped in the backyard a couple of times. These last two years, he's been more involved with sports and other activities so we've taken a break from overnight or multi-night trips and just done hikes. Next year, I have two weekend trips planned for spring and summer. I'm planning on taking my now eight year old son on one and my four year old daughter on the other. If only I could get the missus interested and we could all go at once.

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