My family spent last week camping in a provincial park on Vancouver Island. There were 13 of us spread over three campsites. Through kid-induced-drama and midnight-pee-breaks to early morning conversations and mass-feedings, the experience taught all of us new skills. And the parents built some character as well. Here are five character building insights from family camping.
Guardrails, not helicopters
My wife and I keep a pretty close watch on our boys, particularly the three-year-old (because he’s three and because he is a fast runner). It was a bit of a struggle for us to let our oldest kiddo jump on his bike and ride away with his older cousins. Not only did he memorize the campsite number and the route “back home” from multiple locations, but he also developed coping and problem-solving skills by dealing with being left out when cousins found new friends or when he was getting picked on.
To be honest, when parents were around, we often made the drama worse by being engaged as the problem-solver or being the reason for bigger feelings (especially with our own spawn). Providing clear rules and principles that guide choices helps kids apply social emotional learning tactics to solve their own problems, foster new connections and cope with what doesn’t go their way.
Over-communicate
We had a lot of moving pieces and people to deal with over a week. In the woods. During a pandemic. Something that helped was overcommunicating our plans, expectations and whereabouts with each other, especially to the parents and grandparents. This helped us manage everything from preparing meals to re-clothing children to ensuring folks got their quiet down time.
During times of change or amidst a crisis, overcommunicating and confirming everyone is on the same page keeps people safe and, in our case, well fed. We tested everyone’s understanding of our expectations when the kids left the campsite. How are you ensuring that your team members or clients are on the same page when your virtual meeting wraps up?
Create shared value
Everyone can agree on ice cream (whether we’re camping or not). The best example that I’ve ever written about creating shared value focuses on shipping containers. Everyone agreed on ice cream because it’s delicious and it also inspired excellent behaviour from everyone who wanted the tasty treat. This said, every day can’t be smores and ice cream, so we found other ways to create shared value, like creating art from treasures we found for all to enjoy. Kids enjoyed finding creative treasures and my dad and I liked using repurposed materials to build out windchimes/mobile.
Wake mind and body immediately
Waking up early makes me a better parent because I am relaxed and focused when my kids come downstairs, which means I can be fully present with them. I love waking up early when camping. Partially because my almost-40-year-old body aches from seven hours of lying on the ground (mattress or not), but mostly because I love to build a fire, sip coffee and read amidst the quiet of nature. While I wasn’t sweating from a run or deeply focusing on my biggest piece of work, I was stretching and moving to get rid of soreness and reading great books to sharpen my mind.
Have a flex
Our family – even the kids – are pretty good and great storytellers. My dad’s camping flex was telling the story of the mad trapper around the campfire. For 20-minutes all the kids – and some adults – sat riveted by the yarns Grandpa spun for them. My sister and brother in law somehow produced meals for 13 people in 30-minutes or less, which was an incredible flex of efficiency, timing and quality.
I swam across a frigid river and would’ve jumped off a really high cliff into said river had my wife and mom not scolded me. I also bounced four kids off a seesaw in a playground. I suppose that being the biggest kid in the campground is kinda my flex.
Playing to your strengths and putting your talents and potential on display for others to see builds trust, connections and engagement. Think about how you are going to
116 words on campfires
Being able to build a fire – especially one with no newspaper, just wood – is an important camping skill and one of my favourite things about the experience. My hot take is that campfires will cease to be cool in five years or less because they pollute, they smoke everything up, and they require constant monitoring when kids are running around.
This piece of the article is dedicated to my dear friend Alison – we agree on almost everything (politics, parenting, food, best modes of transportation), but not the nostalgic value and historic importance of beautiful campfires. I begrudgingly acknowledge that she is correct and that, soon, campfires will go out of style like midrange jump shots and low-cut jeans.
