Our family's love for camping didn’t begin until after our daughter came into the world. Growing up, we weren’t exactly the outdoorsy type—far from it. But something about starting a new chapter made us want to create new traditions, and so, my wife and I ventured out on our own to adopt hobbies that gave us a glimpse of the great outdoors. Only then did we realize how much the great outdoors has to offer. Whether it be snowboarding and enjoying après-ski or mountain biking with friends, or even fishing in open waters. Shortly after discovering all these hobbies, we found the perfect family adventure car, a Toyota 4Runner (not the van my wife once wanted).
Shortly after acquiring our 4Runner, it occurred to us that we wanted to let our toddler experience the great outdoors in a less intense way than extreme sports, and that’s when we started camping with our 1 year old. Being the gearheads that my wife and I are, iKamper Roof Top Tents came on our radar almost immediately and we knew that we needed one. At our nearest showroom, we got the iKamper 3.0 Mini and planned our first camping trip two days after. We were ready to go so we loaded our car and went overlanding. Yes, overlanding on our very first camping experience sounds like we bit off more than we could chew but luckily we went with good friends who were experienced overlanders. Needless to say, Indian Valley Reservoir was worth the visit and my wife and I were HOOKED. The screen-free time spent with good friends and good food, cozying up around the bonfire with stories and conversations are all cherished moments that live on in our memories. We truly loved it all.
We have grown a lot since then in many ways. Let me explain. We group has become larger since a lot of our close friends have joined us in our camping adventures. Our camping menu expanded in ways that I never thought possible (eggettes and hand poured milk tea at camp?). We also grew our knowledge of survival skills while overlanding with no utilities on site and the task of keeping our toddler safe. Lastly, my daughter grew in size; the iKamper Mini was being filled quickly by the three of us so we upgraded to the iKamper Skycamp DLX and let me tell you, it was the best decision by far. The king-sized space in the DLX keeps us detangled and gives us so much comfort while camping. Let’s just say they made their way to the nearest showroom witnessing the smooth set up and comfort of our tent.
Let’s talk about accessories. Our favorite accessory by far is the iKamper shoe rack—our family finds it very useful as a hangable closet for the whole family’s garments. No more digging through duffle bags to change my toddler’s soiled pants, the shoe rack keeps our clothes separate and easy to find. Another family favorite off-label use of an iKamper accessory has to be the iKamper RTT Blanket Double. We like to connect the blankets into one oversized blanket so that when we sleep with our toddler in the middle we can be sure that she is under the covers the entire night.
Now about child safety in the RTT. After observing our toddler explore the RTT we quickly realized her ability to open zippers and possibly endanger herself in the process. We came up with a quick solution with small carabiners that hook onto the zippers from the outside, and that give us peace of mind and our toddler more freedom to explore (with supervision). The HC Steps also enabled our toddler to climb up and down the RTT by herself—after all, camping is about fostering independence and allowing children to explore their abilities and connection with nature.
In the beginning my wife and I were stressed with coming up with ways to entertain our toddler during these camping trips. We bought rock painting kits, dinosaur’s eggs for excavating, binoculars, bug containers with magnifying glasses, water guns and…you get it, we tried many things. We were throwing everything against the wall and seeing what stuck for the longest time. We not-so-quickly realized the best entertainment for children at camp is their friends and accompanying adults. Bring a shovel and a handful of their favorite toys and I assure you, your child would be entertained for hours. Especially when adults are busy setting up and cooking. Additionally, one item that changed the game for us was bringing a kid-sized fishing waders to all our camping trips so we don’t dread every body of water our toddler wanted to jump into.
Everybody has heard of the “anything goes” rule when traveling with a small child, but it doesn’t mean you have to throw all your established schedules and rules out the windows just yet. Just loosen it up for the weekend. Meet the toddler halfway when camping—it’s okay to have a later bedtime, have that second s’more, and get downright filthy in mud. Because that is the spirit of camping—a time when we relish in our freedom and reconnect with nature.
