Camping and Why You Should Do It

We took our daughter camping for the first time when she was 1 1/2. That's a very easy age to take your children camping, actually, because they are super entertained by rocks and sticks. We didn't take her camping again until this year, age six, for no other reason than, uh, we just kinda didn't. We went other places instead. Places with things like hotels. And amenities.

This year, she asked us if we could make s'mores. Real s'mores. And sleep under the stars. Seeing no reason not to, we pulled out our ridiculous ten person tent, our emergency kit full of supplies, and we hit the road to camp for a couple of nights. It was less spontaneous than that, because my husband and I are not spontaneous people, so we had our meals planned out and I had portioned shampoo and dishsoap in little tiny containers, but we slept in a tent on the ground in a place that didn't have showers and where you have to pee in a stinking hole, so that has to count for something. We were near a rushing river and it was a beautiful, soothing sound that lulled us peacefully to sleep. We were woken, ever so gently, by the sound of a native bird, the raven... AT FOUR THIRTY IN THE CURSE WORD MORNING. Our dear, sweet child popped up in her sleeping bag on the chilly, hard ground and said, "OH! A raven! It's time to get up." (Bonus points, little one, for knowing what bird you heard) Her father and I looked at each other in sleepy horror, and said, "No, it's not. It is NOT time to get up. You've got the wrong bird. You're thinking of roosters. On a farm. Go back to sleep." However, this is the thing you need to know about our child. She is not a sleeper. If she is woken up, that's it. She's done. She's good to go. It doesn't matter if we stayed up well into the dark hours of summer night eating the blandest of candy, the toasted marshmallow. She is up and not going back to sleep because A DANG RAVEN MADE A SOUND AND THEN SHUT UP FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. Guess what else? Campgrounds have rules. Rules like: shut the heck up until 7 am, which is a totally reasonable time to get up, and what time the rest of the birds start chirping, because the rest of the birds don't suck. We laid in the tent and shushed her until 7 am, when she burst out of the tent, singing and dancing and joyful. We were the first campers up and I'm not exaggerating. We repeated the same thing the next morning but we'd gone to bed a little earlier, because we were a little wiser.

Camping with an exhausted six year old is still fun, though, and I think everyone should camp (really camp) when their kids are young, if for no other reason than they need to know how lucky they are to have toilets that flush and to appreciate their bed. When the novelty of s'mores, sleeping on the rock hard ground under the ethereal glow of a surprisingly bright glowstick, eating crap cereal I wouldn't otherwise buy out of tiny boxes, and making friends behind the pit toilets with the other children wore off, our two nights were up and we returned with a child who kissed her bed, the floor and declared her love for the toilet. We came home with memories, appreciated nature in its majestic glory, and taught our child to be grateful for modern conveniences. I don't know why, but I can't wait to do it again soon.

Kindergarten

My daughter is now in kindergarten. Here, kindergarten is full day, meaning she is in school from about 9-3. She loves it. Yesterday, they celebrated their 100th day of school, which is apparently a Big Freakin' Deal, and something I don't remember celebrating in school as a kid but according to pinterest and my facebook newsfeed, it's a new international holiday or whatever. In reality, I think it's Kiddo's 87th day of school, because she's contracted several plague-like illnesses as kindergarteners will.

The teacher asked if some of the parents could stay and help out with some of the classroom activities yesterday, and because my job has flexible hours and I'm a sucker, I agreed to come and aid in the supervision of twenty 5 and 6 year old kids with free range to art supplies. There is nothing that can simultaneously build up and tear down your confidence like little kids. They haven't developed a brain to mouth filter yet, and they are impulsive and strange. I enjoy them.

Now, my daughter and her friends are nose-pickers. When she started school, I told her she needed to stop picking and consuming the contents of her nostrils. It was gross, and other kids might make fun of her. She shrugged and told me that all kids picked, and it wasn't a big deal. She seems to be right. I'm not sure what age it goes from acceptable to unacceptable, but it's not kindergarten age. They're all gross. Yesterday, a little boy came up to me and tugged on my shirt. "Mrs. W, Olivia just ate glue." I turn around and see Olivia with a big grin on her face, sitting in front of a tray of white paste.
Me: "Olivia, really? Glue?"
Olivia: "Glue is good!"
Me: "No. What? Glue is not food. That's just... ew. Don't eat glue."
Another little boy at the table: "I eat glue. It IS good." He dips his finger in the glue and licks.
I stared in horror at them. "You all deserve each other."
The children cackled in glee.

I got to read the children a story. This was fun, and they actually listened to me. We had discussions about the ending of the book. I felt like a rock star. Then, later, one of the little girls stared at me while I helped her with a mask. "Why did you touch your hair?"
I didn't even know I had touched my hair. "I don't know. I guess I had a knot in my hair."
Girl: "Oh. Why are you so much shorter than my mom?"
Me: "Because. This is how tall I'm supposed to be."
Girl: "Oh. What's that red mark on your face?"
Me: "Um, a pimple? It's something people get when they grow up. Teenagers get them, and sometimes when you're as old as a mom, you get them, too."
Girl: "My mom doesn't have red marks on her face."
Me: "Okay, well,  you probably have a better chance of not having red marks on your face when you get big, too. And probably you'll be taller than me, so you've got that going on, too."
Girl: "You're funny. I hope you come back tomorrow."

You see? They tear you up, they tear you down, and they are so funny.