Fifteen Lessons Learned from Single Mum Camping.

In the school holidays, I took my daughter on a two-night camping holiday. To me, that’s a bit of an oxymoron, so let’s call it a camping trip. Or a camping adventure. Some might go so far as to say a camping challenge.

Look, I’m going to be upfront with you. Single-mum camping wasn’t easy. But I speak for myself. You might be a really outdoorsy type, and you might read this and think, these things are obvious. So this article is really aimed at the single mum who is a bit like me.

I went camping with my family a lot when I was younger, and then a couple of times with an ex-boyfriend. But that was almost 15 years ago. Was I ever in charge of setting up the tent? No. And these days, I much prefer a bed. And clean feet.

When I mentioned my plans to some of my friends and family, I think they thought I was a little mad. Go with one of your single mum friends they said. Why not try a holiday in a cabin first? Glamping is great! Give that a go! And they were all fair points.

BUT. It was something that my daughter had been talking about for a year and I had three reasons. Three very important reasons, why I do this camping trip.

Why did I go?

1. To make my daughter happy.
2. So my daughter doesn’t miss out on things, just because she doesn’t have a dad who is actively involved in her life.
3. I want to show my daughter that women can do this. It’s not a man’s activity. And that we could do it on our own. Maybe deep down, I even wanted to prove it to myself.

To be honest, I mentioned to my daughter’s dad many months ago that she wanted to go camping… in the hope that he’d take her. He seemed surprised that she wanted to go camping, and that is where that conversation stayed. I knew that if she was going to go camping, I would be the one who would have to take her.

Here are my key single-mum camping takeaways for you.

1. You will feel pretty damn proud of yourself.

Even though it’s a challenge, you will feel pretty damn good about yourself. You may need help with a couple of things here or there. Or maybe you won’t. But either way, you will survive and you’ll get back and go. YEAH! I did that!

2. Accept you will have dirty feet.

The last time I went camping was a long time ago. I had forgotten that dirty feet are a part of camping that is hard to avoid. Or maybe I just didn’t care as much back then. Now, my OCD found it hard to manage. ARGH!!! Get your feet off my sleeping bag was something I yelled more than once. And that was in the first hour alone. I had to remind myself to not worry about it. It didn’t really matter if I slept in sand and black soil for a couple of nights. Next time, knowing that’s a part of camping that’s hard to avoid, I think I’ll do much better. AND, as a friend of mine advised – that’s what you bring those wetsuit material shoes for. Wear them around camp.

3. If you can, go with another single-parent family. Or any other family.

I won’t lie, it’s a hard activity to do on your own. At least it was for me. Setting up the tent was hard (and I have an engineering background). I struggled for a while. Determined I could do it on my own. #notstubbornatall. Unfortunately asking my daughter to hold a pole at one end of the tent, whilst I tried to click something together on the other did not work very well. You also have to take your child with you wherever you go. Dishes, toilet trips, showers, packing things up… It would be a lot easier with more adults around that you trust.

4. Accept help.

I was amazed by how helpful everyone was. A family located on the dirt patch next door saw my struggle and kindly offered to help me. At first, I declined, but when I was still struggling a while later, and the sun was starting to go down, the parents of the family came to my rescue and saved the day. Don’t be afraid to accept help, or to ask for help. People are happy to! No need to be stubborn like me.

5. Bring wine.

Trust me, after getting the tent up and setting up camp while at the same time trying to keep a young child occupied who keeps running off with the pegs, you’re going to want a glass or two of wine. It almost didn’t make the cut, but I packed some wine at the last minute. And boy, was I glad that I did. Bring it.

6. Don’t worry too much about nutrition.

Make the cooking easy. No one’s going to die if you don’t serve up dinner with the right proportion of vegetables, protein, and carbs for a few nights. We had pasta both nights. The first was with a homemade pesto I brought with us, and the second was with a stir-through tomato-based sauce from a jar.

7. Prep food.

If you do decide that you can’t tolerate the non-nutritious food, do all the food prep at home. Preparing some salads, or chopping up some veggies ready to boil, in the comfort of your own kitchen, is a lot easier than on a trestle table with a head torch.

8. Make a list and check it twice.

You are going to need some essentials. I have prepared a list that you can download right here. This is for the camping novice, that doesn’t have (or want) a full camping set up complete with a living room and fully equipped kitchen. There are also some easy camping food suggestions on there. If you are a seasoned and regular camper, I’m sure you have a much better list.

9. Bring an iPad.

There’s not much to do when the sun goes down except look at the stars, and if you have curious kids, maybe some exploring or playing games with torches. So I would recommend making sure you bring a fully charged iPad and a power charger because it’s quite cozy to cuddle in the tent with your child and watch a movie together. Remember, there won’t be any WiFi, so you’ll have to download some movies before you go. We just picked a couple out on Netflix the night before.

10. Borrow what you can.

Reach out to your family and friends and borrow gear if you can. Camping gear is expensive, and who knows? This may be the one and only time you go. Things to borrow include a tent, a gas cooker, sleeping bags, a blow-up mattress, and a trestle table.

11. Don’t go too far from home.

We only went an hour and a half drive from where we live. It was close enough that we didn’t take up too much of our day driving, and I knew that if we hated it, we could always go home.

12. Consider the length of your stay.

We went for two nights. However, given the effort required in preparation, getting there, setting up, and packing up, I think another night would have been ideal. Then again, I was missing my bed. And my shower. And my clean feet. But if we go again, I’ll make it a three-night trip.

13. Bring a set-up and pack away “kit”.

Setting up your campsite and packing it away is (in my opinion) a pain in the ass. If you have children who keep running off and/or requesting things every 7.5 seconds, it doesn’t help. Next time I go, I’m preparing a kit for my daughter which she’ll get on arrival, and another one for pack-up time. In the kit, I’ll include things such as a new colouring book, some new sparkle crayons or similar, a new toy of some sort, and some treats. You need some peace to think and put things together when you’re setting up a tent. And if you whip this baby out right before you attempt the tent, you may get lucky, and get a few minutes to figure the damn thing out.

14. Hide the treats.

My daughter knew we had treats. She came shopping with me after all. We brought cookies, marshmallows, chips, and some leftover Easter eggs with us. This is a lot more than we usually have when it comes to treats. In hindsight, I would pack these things separately and hide them. My daughter knew they were there. And I got asked for treats CONSTANTLY. It drove me mad. And in the end, I gave up. In the battle of willpower, she won. This time.

15. There are many benefits.

As much as it was challenging, it was also great. And I discovered many benefits to camping. Firstly, it’s an extremely budget-friendly holiday trip. We spent less than $150 on the campsite, national park entry fees, and food and supplies. Secondly, there are lots of things to do, especially if you’re near a swimming spot. Many campsites also have playgrounds, and there are LOADS of kids around. At least there were when we went. And it was really nice because a lot of the time, all the kids played together. In fact, I even got to sit down and read my book. Unheard of!

Was it worth it?

Overall we had a great time. It was fun, but I was ready to go home by the end of it. Will I go again? If my daughter asks, yes. If she doesn’t, probably. But it is a lot of work, and it’s something I could personally probably only do once a year max.

But if you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know. And you might find out that you do have a love for the great outdoors.

And most importantly, you’ll be making memories for your kids, showing them some girl power, having a great bonding experience, and teaching them that they don’t have to miss out, just because they are in a single-parent family.

So was it worth it? Absolutely.

Have fun!

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