Camping trips are a fun way to help your child develop soft skills that will ease them into whatever lies ahead. However, not all kids share the same eagerness toward camping. Some kids may also suddenly have a change of heart and opt-out of such trips.
Here are some tips on what to do when a child refuses to go camping:
- Keep calm.
- Assess your child’s physical health.
- Check for signs of anxiety.
- Ask your child about previous camping experiences.
- Make your child excited about camp.
- Create a camping bucket list with your child.
- Assure your child that you’re still accessible.
The rest of this article will go over various tips that will help you navigate your child’s negative feelings toward camping, as well as ways to make camping seem more exciting.
1. Keep Calm
Children tend to imitate their parents, both the good and the bad traits.
When your child sees that you’re calm and composed whenever you’re preparing for or going camping, they would also try to mirror you. In a way, relaxed parents help mold calm children. So instead of simply saying or listing ways on how to calm down, try to model how you yourself would try to be calm.
Saying things like, “I’m really scared right now. Can you please help Daddy by taking 5 deep breaths with me to make me calm?” shows your child what to do to calm themselves in scary situations. This is an excellent way to demonstrate the correct way of addressing stressful circumstances.
Your child needs to realize that escapism isn’t the answer to most things, and what better way to teach them that than to lead by example?
Keeping yourself calm also builds a sense of security in your child, which helps to keep their anxiety in check. If your child sees or feels that you’re worried about their camping trip, their fears would most likely worsen.
As the old saying goes, “actions are easier caught than taught,” so being a role model will definitely help your child navigate complex situations appropriately in the future.
Lastly, having a calm mind makes it easier for you to address other issues your child might have with camping. It keeps you open to the vast array of possibilities that may be causing your child to shy away.
Stress significantly drags down your ability to effectively connect with your child and may lead you to be less receptive or communicative. Remember that your child is also likely under a lot of stress at the moment, hence the sudden refusal to go camping. When you allow stress to take over your response, you become way less likely to convince them to give camping another chance.
2. Assess Your Child’s Physical Health
Apart from your child’s mental health, you must also ensure that they’re physically fit for camping.
While in some cases, you can tell yourself if your child is sick, (like when they have a high temperature or a runny nose and cough). However, it’s also good to ask your child how they physically feel. Sometimes, physical illness may not be very obvious, and children are more likely to fail to pinpoint that something’s not right with their health.
Ask simple questions your child can quickly answer. For example, instead of asking a vague question like, “are you sick?” you can ask them to point where they feel any pain.
You can also ask if they have any breathing problems. Anxiety can manifest in many forms, and difficulty breathing is among the most common physical symptoms. An accurate assessment of their physical health helps you and your child plan your next steps and decide whether camping is a good idea at the moment.
It’s also important to remember that sometimes your child may have mixed feelings about saying how they feel, especially if you already expect them to be well for camping. They might not know for sure that they’re sick and may just lump their discomfort altogether by simply refusing to go camping. If this is the case, it’ll be hard for both of you to settle the issue appropriately.
So, let your child feel comfortable before asking questions to get accurate answers as possible.
Perhaps you can give them their favorite toy and speak to them in their play corner so they’ll feel secure enough to speak their mind. There’s no need to ask why they don’t want to go camping immediately. If they’re already physically unwell, they’re much less likely to be in control of their emotions, and they’ll probably fail to explain to you why they don’t want to go.
3. Check for Signs of Anxiety
If you see your child struggling to concentrate, having regular bad dreams, or being easily irritable prior to the camping trip, they may have anxious thoughts.
New experiences, especially those that are far away from home, can be nerve-wracking for children. As such, parents should show confidence that their child can emulate, while at the same time, being empathetic to their feelings.
Don’t dismiss their feelings by saying, “you shouldn’t worry too much” or “all the kids love camping.” Saying these things would only result in your kid thinking there’s something wrong with them.
This will only worsen their anxiety and minimize their chances of going. Even if you successfully convince them to go by using such statements, they might not really get the most out of the experience, so it becomes self-defeating.
You can start by acknowledging that camping is indeed a massive challenge for them, but you’re confident that they’ll be able to soldier on.
Additionally, you should share some of your previous experiences during your time camping. They don’t always have to be comfortable experiences because you wouldn’t want them questioning the truthfulness of what you say all the time, going forward.
Instead, tell them about the pleasant and uncomfortable ones and how those experiences helped you become better afterward. Tell them how you overcame all of them and how fun those experiences are, looking back.
Sometimes, children simply need to have something to look forward to.
Should there be particular things that bother them, you can help them come up with solutions to the scenarios they’re concerned with. Don’t dismiss your child’s concerns by telling them that they’re unlikely to happen.
A better alternative is to let your child speak their mind and encourage them to come up with their own ideas to make camping more comfortable for them.
4. Ask Your Child About Previous Camping Experiences
Sometimes your child may have had awful experiences during their previous camp that now cause anxiety towards their next camping trip.
Ask your child what these experiences are and acknowledge that these are indeed difficult situations. If you think these were isolated cases and are unlikely to occur again, reassure them that camping doesn’t always come with such terrible experiences.
If their awful experiences are typical of camping trips, such as wet, muddy shoes or uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, brainstorm with them on how to possibly avoid these scenarios in the first place.
Together, it would help if you also created a game plan they can use should the awful experiences happen again.
Sometimes, kids just need reassurance that they can get through difficult situations, even as young as they are.
Tell stories of the camping trip you have had growing up and the challenges you overcame. It would be great if you could effectively express that no matter the challenges and discomfort you encountered, you still had fun overall.
Showing your child how you were able to solve these problems and how happy you were when you were camping instills confidence and a sense of excitement in them. Chances are, they might even look forward to the challenges themselves!
5. Make Your Child Excited About Camp
If your child has no negative feelings towards camping but still refuses to go, they may just be really disinterested or find camping boring.
Look for ways to make camping more exciting for your child. Here are a few ways you can make camping seem more exciting:
- Paint a picture of how fun camping will be based on your experiences when you were a kid. Describe all of the fun activities you did, the friends you made, and what you learned.
- Watch camping videos with them and spot instances where your kid seemed delighted. Specific activities may include setting up a tent or roasting marshmallows by the campfire. You can do some of these activities at home for them to get a firsthand glimpse of what it feels like to do these things, and emphasize how much more fun it would be if your kid did it together with their friends at camp.
- Show your child pictures of you camping. This can also bring the experience closer to home.
- Take your kid to shop for brand new camping gear. Based on camping videos you watched together, make a shopping list with your child for anything that they might need. By letting your child decide on what to buy and pick specific items from the store, they’ll get a sense of owning the camping experience. As a result, your kid will be more enthusiastic to try their new gear on their camping trip.
- Countdown the days until your child leaves for their camping trip. Make it more exciting each day the trip gets closer. Your kid will likely begin to feel excited for the upcoming trip instead of dread.
There are many different ways you can make your child more excited to go camping, and what works will vary depending on the child. However, it’s always best to first discern your child’s reasons for not wanting to go camping before trying to make them excited for the experience.
6. Create a Camping Bucket List With Your Child
Another way of making your kid excited about camping is to create a bucket list. The list should be simple enough for your kid to accomplish and have clear goals that they can easily visualize.
The list can include activities such as making the best-toasted marshmallow or making at least two new friends.
Providing clear and measurable camping goals for your child will make them more excited about camping. Completing the tasks on the list will also give your child a sense of fulfillment and the drive to do more camping in the future.
You and your child can add other things to the list; just make sure the activities in the list can be realistically accomplished. You wouldn’t want your list to be a source of disappointment and the reason for your child becoming more anxious for the next camping trip.
7. Assure Your Child That You’re Still Accessible
When you’ve done all the strategies listed here, don’t forget to assure your kid that you’re still accessible, even from far away.
Sometimes, kids may feel as though they’ll be totally by themselves after you drop them to camp. Let them know that you’ll always be available for anything crucial that may happen. Remind them, though, that you can’t talk to them all the time, as it will ruin their overall experience.
Instead, pack enough envelopes and stamps and talk with your kid about the schedule of receiving and getting phone calls and emails. Of course, you may have to speak to the camping coordinator prior to discussing with your child. Knowing the exact times will give your child something to look forward to while they’re away while erasing unnecessary worries at the same time.
Assuring your child that you’ll still be able to communicate with them gives them a sense of security that they get from being at home. It also assures them that you’re on top of their situation and aware of their activities in camp.
Conclusion
Whenever your kid refuses to go camping, the best initial approach is to stay calm. Be receptive to what they’re currently feeling, both physically and emotionally.
If they had prior camp experiences that had been awful, assure them it’s not going to happen again. If this isn’t possible, at least help them plan how they can overcome them this time.
They may also have misconceptions about camp or ungrounded worries, such as being all by themselves when they’re away from you. Hype them up for their camping trip, but assure them you’ll always be a call away as well.