2 year olds can eat camping food-hot dogs and scrambled eggs. It's actually easier with little ones outdoors. They can't really escape anywhere, they are totally entertained. It doesn't matter if they spill their food or get dirty. They could even pee right there in the woods or you could change their diaper in the campsite. Easy.

No, I would think they are cool and am impressed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for them. It sounds hard (the 2 year old) but we have family and friends that did this as well. I think its great they are enjoying nature and getting quality time together rather than sitting in front of a TV/ipad

But how do you keep young kids entertained? Do you bring a whole bin of toys? There's no playground? "Hiking" only lasts for a whopping 30 min before their legs get tired? Dirty hands, but no potable water? Going stir crazy being confined to the camping space? Sit around with wiggly 2 and 4 yr old and play cards, have great conversations, and sit still and enjoy the sounds of nature...um, yea right?

You might as well just play and spend the whole day your backyard.

We have a hiking backpack and hike a lot with our 2 year old (5+ hour hikes, not 30 min). She can walk several miles actually and then she goes into the hiking backpack to nap. Dirty hands = baby wipes. DD likes to follow ants, look for birds and she sings songs. Same things we do in our backyard when the toys aren't out. We don't bring any toys whatsoever camping. A 2 year old is too young for cards.

We also bring our bikes and a bike trailer for DD when we go camping and she loves it. She sits next to our little dog and they just watch. We typically have an activity during the day like biking Antietam battlefield, touring a national park, kids museum, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for them. It sounds hard (the 2 year old) but we have family and friends that did this as well. I think its great they are enjoying nature and getting quality time together rather than sitting in front of a TV/ipad

But how do you keep young kids entertained? Do you bring a whole bin of toys? There's no playground? "Hiking" only lasts for a whopping 30 min before their legs get tired? Dirty hands, but no potable water? Going stir crazy being confined to the camping space? Sit around with wiggly 2 and 4 yr old and play cards, have great conversations, and sit still and enjoy the sounds of nature...um, yea right?

You might as well just play and spend the whole day your backyard.

How do you keep yourself entertained when you go camping?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's wrong with you?

It's not my idea of fun, but it's not strange. I wish I was more outdoorsy and enjoyed camping more.

Oh come on, if the kids were eight and ten this would make perfect sense. But one is barely walking and the other is learning ABCs. It's a little strange and it's hard enough to keep crap out of toddler/baby hands in a house. In a freaking park?! No way. I'd be worried about everything - mushrooms, snakes, foot-high water.

What the heck? Have you been outdoors? Or met a 2 year old? 2 year olds aren't barely walking. Most kids walk before 1.

We camp monthly with our 2 year old and she's fab. She really enjoys it. She doesn't eat "special food" either- that the heck is that? My children eat 100% of what I eat, there aren't special dinners and they aren't getting kid food. Keeping stuff out of a 2 year olds hands? huh? I mean she collected leaves in a bag as we hiked but that's the extent of her picking stuff up. She also got a rock and a stick.

My parents went camping with 7 kids, ages 17 to 2 since it was the only vacation they could afford. I have great memories and am eternally grateful to my parents for the experience.

The same people who go anywhere solo with a 2 and 4 year old.

Seriously, what kind of question is this?

I saw a mom with a 2 & 4 year old at the Capitals Stanley Cup parade and once she got off the Metro, everyone on there was talking so much sh!t about how crazy she was for doing that without her husband. One lady even said, "if my husband found out I took the kids to something this crazy alone, he'd have me committed!"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for them. It sounds hard (the 2 year old) but we have family and friends that did this as well. I think its great they are enjoying nature and getting quality time together rather than sitting in front of a TV/ipad

But how do you keep young kids entertained? Do you bring a whole bin of toys? There's no playground? "Hiking" only lasts for a whopping 30 min before their legs get tired? Dirty hands, but no potable water? Going stir crazy being confined to the camping space? Sit around with wiggly 2 and 4 yr old and play cards, have great conversations, and sit still and enjoy the sounds of nature...um, yea right?

You might as well just play and spend the whole day your backyard.

You'd be amazed. A toddler can spend hours in a small area with grass and twigs and rocks and be constantly amused. No toys needed when we family camp. Nature is the toy.

Anonymous wrote:Good for them. It sounds hard (the 2 year old) but we have family and friends that did this as well. I think its great they are enjoying nature and getting quality time together rather than sitting in front of a TV/ipad

But how do you keep young kids entertained? Do you bring a whole bin of toys? There's no playground? "Hiking" only lasts for a whopping 30 min before their legs get tired? Dirty hands, but no potable water? Going stir crazy being confined to the camping space? Sit around with wiggly 2 and 4 yr old and play cards, have great conversations, and sit still and enjoy the sounds of nature...um, yea right?

You might as well just play and spend the whole day your backyard.

I was the first 9:44 poster. The article that was previously posted makes it sound like it might have been a stray bullet. So terrible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't even care that they're girls, would you think a parent and two toddlers camping alone is strange?

What I find strange is how you latched onto (and felt compelled to post about) the idea of "why camp with young kids?" when the tragedy now in the news -- which you're so obviously referencing-- had absolutely nothing to do with the ages of the kids or the general appropriateness of taking young children camping. Do you somehow think the father would be alive and well if only he'd been camping with two teenaged kids instead? I'm betting not, but can you see how your post smacks of victim-blaming even if you didn't mean it that way?

Honestly? Maybe. We won't know until they release more details on his death but this could have just as easily been an accidental shooting because a toddler got hold of his safety weapon as it was a robbery etc.

If he had a gun with him, and that weapon had been fired, they would have reported that. Apparently there have been other mysterious shootings at that location: http://abc7.com/previous-shootings-reported-at-calabasas-park-where-father-killed/3648349/

Good for them. It sounds hard (the 2 year old) but we have family and friends that did this as well. I think its great they are enjoying nature and getting quality time together rather than sitting in front of a TV/ipad

Anonymous wrote:How do you define "camping"?
As in a small cabin at jellystone with pool, playground, bounce pillow, family friendly?
Or
tent camping in the middle of nowhere, hunt for your own firewood, etc?

They were in a tent.

My SIL's mother use to take my nephews camping every year - it was a really special bonding experience for them. I can't remember if they were THAT young but she died when they were like 9 and 11 and they'd gone for several years before that so they couldn't have been that much older.

Also, that story was so, so sad. The articles I saw yesterday gave no indication of motive... do they think it was random or was he targeted???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't even care that they're girls, would you think a parent and two toddlers camping alone is strange?

What I find strange is how you latched onto (and felt compelled to post about) the idea of "why camp with young kids?" when the tragedy now in the news -- which you're so obviously referencing-- had absolutely nothing to do with the ages of the kids or the general appropriateness of taking young children camping. Do you somehow think the father would be alive and well if only he'd been camping with two teenaged kids instead? I'm betting not, but can you see how your post smacks of victim-blaming even if you didn't mean it that way?

Honestly? Maybe. We won't know until they release more details on his death but this could have just as easily been an accidental shooting because a toddler got hold of his safety weapon as it was a robbery etc.