What are the good age for us to join friends for road trips, camping, skiing, fishing etc?

[Anonymous]

If they have invited you they know the age of good kids and are ok with it. Having said that, your 3yo
Sounds high maintenance right now so I would skip until she is not napping/ cosleeping and is potty trained.

[Anonymous]

What do you like to do?

People occasionally invite us camping. There is nothing I would want to do less than go camping.

We have done beach, lake, ski vacations with friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I would not invite a non-swimming adult to do anything on or near water, at all period. And 10x no if they also have children who cannot swim. It sounds like you need family swimming lessons before you even consider boating or fishing.

+1

[Anonymous]

Send one adult to see if they actually like. Kids doing activities that require adult supervision will go better if a parent (or other adult supervisor) can participate and enjoys it.

[Anonymous]

Parents can rotate and take 6yo now, 3yo stays home. As soon as 3yo is potty trained, all four can go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the pp with 3 kids ages 4-12. I am not a great swimmer, don’t ski, don’t fish. However, my Dh can do all and my kids enjoy doing all as well.

As long as one of the parents swims and a non-swimming parent doesn't make themselves and their children a hazard, it's fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not take the younger until she is fully toilet trained. And I would not go camping or fishing because those activities are undesirable to me. I suggest you learn to ride a bike. You're an adult and it's a fun activity done all over the world

Am I the only one who finds that at least the early days of toilet trained toddlerhood are not that easy? Having to constantly schlep them to the potty, dealing with particularness about public toilets, having to wipe their butts until their arms are long enough/they're consistent enough...etc. I kind of miss the ease of diapering every 2 hours. I'm not saying I'd rather go back! But it's not an easy button. At least until they're 4 or 5


I love bike riding and re-learned as an adult (yes i forgot, lol). So agree w/ your suggestion

A portable toddler potty solves all the phobia about strange toilets, the timing issues, and I have toilet paper, wipes and sanitizing spray with paper towels ready for clean up. That goes everywhere with me until kids are roughly 4-5, because kids that age go from fine to about to pee their pants in two seconds flat.

[Anonymous]

I don’t particularly like camping, but we went as a family with a 4 year old and a 2 year old. It was fine except that we got ticks (another reason I don’t like camping).

We have not done many trips with friends yet, but we are planning one this summer in Europe.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think this is an age thing. You are an adult and don’t do these things. You should go on outings you want to go on with your friends and family.

My boys have been fishing since preschool. My daughter has been around fishing since she was 2 months old. She sometimes drops her toy pole (an actual real pole) and catches a few fish.

My boys have gone to ski lessons since they were 5. We took them snow tubing when they were in preschool. We are going skiing next weekend with friends. Older kids are skiing and our preschooler is tubing.

What do you like to do? Going on road trips with friends should be fun.

[Anonymous]

We have vacationed with other families and it was always so much fun for the kids. I agree that a three year old is a touch young and won’t be able to participate as much, but definitely in the next year or two would probably have lots of fun, especially if they have friends to play with.

And as for camping, skiing, etc, you have to just do these things and figure it out. You will. It’ll cost money and take time, but you can figure it out. And all these things are so much fun to do as a family.

[Anonymous]

I have a vivid memory of my then-four-year-old perching on the pot in a public bathroom at a campground and hugging me like their life depended while taking a massive poop. And my encouraging them and stressing that they were SO BRAVE.

So. Brave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a 3 year old (not potty trained) and a 6 year old. And, we get invited to a few events every year, e.g. 3-4 days tent or cabin camping, road trips to other states for 1-3 days, biking trips, skiing for long weekend, fishing a day or boating a day? It is our mutual friend groups that do these activities for a few years already, and there are singles and a few family with kids like age 6 - 15. They are really experienced, and have all of the tools and everything.

We have no experiences, and we have never joined them for anything mentioned above as a family of 4, except going to their house for holiday party/birthday party/playdates. I can't swim, ski, bike, fish, and I have only camped once with someone cooking/setting up everything for me. What are the good age for us to consider joining my friends for these? My hesitation is my youngest one, she still needs napping/cosleeping/potty training, and it is really handful to take care/entertain 2 kids in a long drive/trip outdoors. And, I have to make sure that they don't get lost or get in danger. That friend group is the only one that we can trust or rely on because I know they can help us to setup tent, teach us fishing, cooking over fire, and my oldest kid can play with some kids there. One day, we want to join them, and it seems like it is never a good time because we hesitate and are worried. It is easy if we don't bring our kids, but we want to join them as a family.

You need to gain some skills before you join. You should be able to swim and cook at a camp and bike before you try. Ask an experienced friend to show you how to set up before you actually go camping. Once you can do those things you can join. I started doing those things with my kids as infants

[Anonymous]

We just went skiing with a 4yo and elementary kids. All the kids went skiing and I stayed back with the 4yo. Older kids did a mix of lessons and some parents took older kids who were better skiers. One night parents stayed up hanging out. Next night we all crashed at 9.

If you are fun, bring boos, you can have fun.

[Anonymous]

We don’t travel with other families because we are 3 HUGE introverts and DD and I are just…..indoor cats. We can swim but we can’t ride bikes and all 3 of us consider camping to be something you’d do if you were down on your luck and homeless.

We’ve been asked by other families to camp or ski for a long weekend and we just turn it around on ourselves

“Oh no! We like you WAY too much to subject you to traveling with us! We’re terrible travelers and worse campers! I know we might seem low maintenance here in the city, but get us in the woods for more than an hour and we just fall apart! Let’s all do make your own pizzas together the weekend you get back”

Boom done. Made it an US problem (which it is) and assured them it is not a THEM problem