Camping With Toddlers: A Survival Guide

Bon Echo Provincial Park

We arrived just as the sun began to set behind the verdant trees of Bon Echo Provincial Park.

It was our first camping trip with our toddlers, three year-old twin boys. Too soon? Maybe. We were about to find out.

Give Yourself Plenty of Time to Get There

The 4-hour drive (thanks Toronto traffic) left us a little car weary while the boys, fresh from their naps, were restless and eager to see this tent we kept telling them about.

Dusk brought with it a few challenges. The boys securely fastened to their car seats, arms flailing like a couple of dictators, loudly demanded to be set free. Meanwhile, the weather app on my phone indicated that we had exactly 2 minutes to set up before being plunged into darkness.

Parking the vehicle strategically in case we needed to use our headlights to illuminate the campground, I hopped out and grabbed the tent from the trunk while my wife slowly – very slowly – proceeded to unbuckle the dynamic duo who had every intention of interfering with what I was about to do, or as they’d like to call it “help me”.

Invest in a Quick Set-Up Tent

As I stood there becoming a mosquito snack, I unsheathed our tent and prayed that my sons wouldn’t drive me to impale myself on it.

Our new tent was a Coleman 8 person Instant Tent, and the company claims that anyone can set it up in one minute. And you know what? They’re absolutely right. I barely fumbled with the pre-assembled poles, and my wife and I never cursed at each other once during the setup.

It’s not a particularly mobile-friendly tent, as it is large and heavy, but that’s the trade-off for a quick set-up tent with a 6’4” high centre ceiling.

Once the tent was up, we invited the boys to tour their temporary home for the next two nights. They giggled and screamed for 20 minutes while we busied ourselves preparing sleeping bags and mattresses. The tent was worth every penny.

Book an Electrical Site

It was then that we discovered that the two air pumps we had were incompatible with our new queen-sized blow-up mattresses. Our fragile spirits buoyed by the ease with which we set up the tent became as deflated as our lifeless beds.

At that late hour, no store would be open, so we did what we could to soften the terrain for the long night ahead. I hustled into the woods looking to collect feathers and soft, furry rodent pelts (No, that did not happen, but in retrospect, it would have been a pretty darn good idea).

Surprisingly, the boys slept very soundly that night in their adjustable Protex sleeping bags. They were either tuckered out by all the excitement or knocked unconscious by the cold, solid ground.

Me, I slept with my eyes open and counted every minute of darkness until sunrise.

In the morning, after gobbling down a breakfast of boiled eggs and watermelon, we drove to a Canadian Tire in Napanee to buy the appropriate air pump.

We chose a camp site with electricity, and while it was meant for our digital distraction devices, aka phones and tablets, it came in very handy for charging the air pump.

Bring Your Own Toilet

We chose a campsite close to bathrooms and showers. The boys are 98% toilet-trained but it seems that whenever they enter a new environment accidents tend to happen. To facilitate and encourage their training, we brought a potty with us and kept it in the tent. While we still had a couple of small accidents, it could have been worse. Imagine setting out into the pitch-black night to the park bathroom with a couple of sticky children covered in roasted marshmallows and tripping over a hungry raccoon.

Keep Meals Simple

We kept meals small and simple. We tried to pick the healthiest packaged goods or handheld foods we could find. Don’t overthink their diet. Eating poorly for 2 and half days will not cause any lasting harm.

Keep Your Children Active

Bon Echo is a great place to go camping with toddlers. It has beaches, open fields to play on, and a network of scenic hiking trails, including one trail that has to be accessed by small ferry boat.

Keep your toddlers moving and stimulated by their surroundings and you won’t have any trouble with what I consider to be the biggest challenges on any trip – getting them to eat and sleep.