Tent Trailers: Perfect for Kid Camping

Camping with young children can either be bliss or hell. My wife and I love camping and wanted to instill a sense of roughing it to our children. So, when they were still in diapers we took a trip into the great unknown.

We were basically car camping out of our little Subaru. We had a 4-man tent and everything you need for a successful trip. We had brought the kid's blankets, stuffed animals, sippy cups, toys, anything we could think of to keep them happy on our trip.

Everything was fine until it was time to put them to bed. We laid out their sleeping bags and pads and lay in the tent with them and read at least ten books. Our boys have never been great sleepers, but after an hour of book reading they were still showing no signs of tiredness.

We thought we'd give it a go though, so we told them to hush up and lie down and sleep. We exited the tent and the kids immediately started giggling and wrestling. The tent looked like it was inhabited by two spastic bear cubs.

Even after stern warnings and more books the boys were not ready to sleep. Finally my wife and I had to crawl between them and sleep with them. Our plan had been to put the boys to bed then have some quality adult time together. That didn't happen.

The next morning we packed up and drove home wondering if we would ever be able to take our kids camping without having to constantly try to make them sleep.

The Tent Trailer Solution

We weren't about to stop camping with our kids, but we needed to figure something out to make it less frustrating. Our answer came in the shape of a tent trailer.

For the uninitiated, a tent trailer is basically a tent on wheels. You tow it behind your car in its compact shape then open it up into a spacious living quarters when you arrive at camp.

Tent trailers are infinitely less expensive than their cousins, the RV. They're light, easy to tow and have everything you could ever need. Granted, I wouldn't call tent trailering roughing it; but if you have little kids it makes camping doable and fun.