Camping Bedtime

Ever wonder how to get kids to sleep when you’re camping? SAME.

Here’s what we do that occasionally works.

60% of the time, it works every time.

Brian Fantana, Anchorman

Our beautiful structured bedtime of 7:30? We left that at home.

We value our sanity and we have learned that fighting regular bedtime hour and routine just isn’t worth it.

The boys get one movie, and that’s it. This movie can start at 7 pm or 9 pm – every night is different.

If they haven’t fallen asleep after the movie they can either stay in bed or sit by the fire.

Listen to your children’s cues. We learned that when P asks for a cuddle, he’s telling us he’s ready. He can ask us cutely or can ask us via a tantrum.

For M we need to be really clear with our boundaries.

“After this movie, it’s bed/ quiet time”

“I’ll cuddle you for 5 minutes, but then I need to check on Dad”

S (18 months ish). Ty or I take her for a stroll around the campground until she falls asleep. The bumpier the road, the better. She enjoys sleeping by the campfire until we retire for the night. We have no idea how this is going to look like next summer.

We let the boys sleep in whatever bed (ours, theirs, or S’) , and then move them if needed when we go to bed. Some nights there’s a round of musical beds.

We usually find when camping for multiple nights the nights get earlier, and the mornings get later (except for that one time S woke up at 5 am, that was not cool S, not cool).

Bedtime is rarely a flawless operation, this is just something we have come to accept. Our “relaxed” approach and being consistent when camping has for the most part worked this summer.

Good night & sweet dreams.