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Local Sites Make It Easy to Try Family Camping

You don’t have to haul your family hundreds of miles to go camping. No matter where you live, you’ll find state parks and commercial campgrounds with a variety of facilities – including furnished cabins – just a few hours away.



by Kathie Sutin

If you’re looking for a way to forge bonds with your child and create memories that will last a lifetime, there’s no better way to do so than by spending time together, preferably time unencumbered by phone calls, television, and other interruptions.

And one of the best ways to spend time together is to go camping. On a camping trip, you’re together 24/7 and share all kinds of activities together, from putting up the tent and cooking dinner over a campfire to hiking and fishing.

If you’ve never camped before, maybe this is the year to try adding it to your roster of child parenting activities. In addition to the memories you’ll be making that will probably last a lifetime, camping is a relatively cheap way to travel. With gas prices still high, that’s something to think about.

Just a few hours’ drive away

Camping in the rugged wilderness of the Rocky Mountains or the scenic beauty of the Smoky Mountains has its appeal, but you need not travel that far to enjoy camping. Many state parks have camping facilities to give you the experience closer to home. Camping closer to home also allows an easy escape if you find you don’t enjoy it or if a long stretch of thunderstorms puts a damper on things.

No matter how congested an urban area you may live in, you’ll be able to find a state park with camping facilities within three or four hours’ drive at most. 

Amenities vary. Some parks have sites with electrical hookup. Some have cabins you can rent if you’re not ready for a tent experience. Activities may include picnicking, bird and other wildlife watching, boating, windsurfing, swimming, fishing, horseback riding, and hiking through marked scenic trails suitable for beginning and experienced hikers alike.

There are also many commercial campgrounds. Some have cabins for rent as well as spaces for recreational vehicles or tent camping.  

If you’ve never camped before, try to find a friend or relative who camps and is agreeable to taking you and your family on your first overnight outing to help you learn the ropes. And if you can, borrow or rent equipment to see if you enjoy camping before investing in equipment of your own. You can also rent camping equipment at some sporting goods stores.

How to enjoy your first camping trip

If you decide to give family camping a try, here are some tips for making your first experience enjoyable.

  • Keep it simple. Start out with easy-to-prepare meals so the work isn’t overwhelming.
  • Plan your trip when the weather is expected to be mild. Late spring, early summer and early fall are often the best times to camp. No one in your family will enjoy the experience if they’re hot and sweaty, or freezing cold, the whole time.
  • Choose a place close to home for your first trip. If the weather gets bad, you can make a quick escape home.
  • Check out in advance what your destination has to offer.
  • Involve the kids in the planning. It’s another opportunity to connect with them and they’ll be happier if they feel their input is important.
  • Don’t try to do too much. Hiking, canoeing, and other activities are fun, but allow time to relax in camp, too.

Finding a place to camp

To find a local state park, just do a web search using “state parks” and the name of your state, and the official site will pop up, full of information and tools to help you find the right park for you. New York State alone has 178 state parks. Here are some other resources to get you started.

  • National Park Service – find a national park by state—and much more about “America’s best idea”
  • RVPark.com – commercial directory of recreational vehicle parks by state
  • Recreation.gov – information on parks, forests, lakes, museums, and other recreation sites managed by Federal agencies
  • ReserveAmerica – commercial catalogue of outdoor recreation destinations
  • Woodall’s – information on RVing and camping from a longtime publisher of camping guides

 

Kathie Sutin is an award-winning freelance journalist based in St. Louis, Missouri. She specializes in writing about medical issues, travel, parenting, education, business, food and people. She has three children. 

Photocourtesy of KOA Kampgrounds of America 

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Inspire Your Kids to Cook

 

by Christina DiMartino

 

Your kids—boys and girls alike—express a desire to cook from a very early age, likely without your even realizing it. They make mud pies in the sandbox, play with child-sized cooking sets, and organize kitchens in doll houses or play areas, and they probably inquire about what you’re cooking from the time they begin to communicate.

 

Kids Cooking Activities offers up reasons why you should encourage cooking activities with your kids. (Set up link at underlining to http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com)

 

* Cooking with your children helps them to learn about nutrition and healthy eating. 

* Cooking in the kitchen will give children a boost of self confidence. They are accomplishing a task, learning something important, and contributing to the family.

* Taking time to cook with your kids will give them lasting memories. They will pass the traditions on when they are grown and have their own families.

* In the enthusiasm of creating something themselves, your children will be more likely to eat what they had a hand in making.

* Kids learn real lessons in science, language, math, and creativity in the kitchen. Cooking will help reinforce all these subjects.

* Cooking is a great way to learn life skills. This is especially helpful when children are older and more independent. They won't have to rely on fast food and junk food to sustain them.

* Working together in the kitchen teaches your child teamwork.

* Cooking teaches children planning and making choices skills.

* Kids practice creativity and imagination in the kitchen. Cooking activities are a great way for kids to express themselves and enjoy their creations.  

 

It may take longer to get the meal or snack done, but the moments with your children will be priceless. Remember to have patience. Don't worry about flour on the floor or spilled milk.

 

A role model for cooking with kids

 

Cooking With Kids, a series of 90-second videos, is hosted by James Beard Award-winning chef John Sarich. Development of the program was inspired by the reality of childhood obesity, anorexia and other eating disorders, Type II Diabetes, and low bone density, which have all become national issues. Cooking With Kids encourages parents and children to spend time in the kitchen together preparing healthy meals in ways that improve communication and help children develop healthy nutritional habits. (Set up link at underlining to http://www.cookingwithkids.org/fact.html)

 

The program shows how easy it is for kids to prepare snacks and meals that taste good and that are good for them. It uses the five food groups as a platform for nutrition messages. You can watch the videos with your children through the website, then print out the recipe and go try it yourselves.

 

The recipes that Sarich prepares with kids on the segments teach them which categories on the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Pyramid are included in the recipe. He explains how vegetable burritos, for example, include foods that have protein, fiber and dairy, and that the burritos are low in fat.

 

Good cooking habits

 

Spatulatta provides 350 step-by-step videos that teach kids good cooking habits, and offers advice for moms, dads and kids on numerous issues related to cooking with kids. It emphasizes topics like teaching kids to wash their hands properly before handling food.  (Set up link at underlining to http://www.spatulatta.com)

 

When it comes to working in the kitchen, you know your children. You know what abilities they have and how fine their motor skills are. Some children are ready to handle a certain kitchen utensil or work at the stove earlier than others. It’s up to you to make that determination.

 

You set the rules in your kitchen, such as you will always light the burners and oven for your children.

 

Go over the workings of every electrical appliance with your child. Explain that the beaters, for example, should be inserted into a hand mixer before the mixer is plugged in.

 

Safety and courtesy are behaviors that need to be re-enforced and modeled.

 

Once you've explained how to handle an item safely, try asking your child to tell you how to do it the next time the task is required when making a recipe. We all learn best when we try to teach.

 

 

CREDIT:

Christina DiMartino has been a freelance and assignment writer since 1985. She is a researcher, interviewer, writer, editor, and manuscript collaborator with a repertoire of clients from around the world.

 

 

PHOTO / ILLUSTRATION RECOMMENDATIONS:

Go to http://www.cookingwithkids.org

 

 

TEASER: 

Cooking with your kids does much more than produce tasty treats! It teaches teamwork, safety, courtesy, math, science, and more, and encourages creativity and imagination. And there are some terrific online videos that will help you get started.

 

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