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Informationen zum Autor Goldie Gendler Silverman grew up in Nebraska and learned to camp in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, and Arizona. After several years of teaching English at the high school and university levels, she began writing remedial reading textbooks, co-authored four cookbooks, and then went on to write Backpacking with Babies and Small Children, published first by Signpost Books and later by Wilderness Press. Mother of three grown children and two almost-grown grandchildren, Goldie now hikes all over the world, but still backpacks with her family near her home in Seattle. Klappentext This informative guide contains everything you need to know about camping with kids! Leseprobe Why Camp? Camping is so much fun! If you have never tried it, you can probably think of all sorts of reasons not to camp, like never having managed a tent or slept on the ground, or your kids are too young, or it’s too much work. But balance against all that the wonderful feelings your children will develop about themselves and about their families. Consider some of the good things my student essay writers told me about their camping experiences. Many of the young people used the word “awesome,” this time close to its original meaning, inspiring awe, the feeling of reverence or admiration for that which is grand or sublime or powerful. They also talked of the pleasure of having their parents’ undivided attention, and of being outdoors all the time. Ella, 11, and Stephen, 12, both agreed that when you are camping, you get to spend quality time bonding with your family. For Shannon, 12, who recalled her first camping trip when she was 8 years old, exploring her camping area with a friend was “as adventurous as two naturalists braving the African jungles alone.” Bridget, 12, wrote that when it was time to leave, “We were all disappointed because camping was so much fun.” Emily and Hannah, both 11, waxed poetic. Emily felt that she was in a “wonderland where you are one with nature.” She loved the nights listening to “the chirp of the crickets and grasshoppers and laying down on the ground and looking up at the stars.” Hannah, like Emily, remembered seeing “the stars at night in the crystal-clear sky and never wanting to leave.” She also remembered “the smell of everything, the way the air and the pine trees and the way a campfire smelled.” And because her family doesn’t camp anymore, she has to have “the memories of that one camping trip to last me a lifetime.” Other students whose families had never taken them camping wished that they could go. “My dad used to camp often with his family when he was young, but no one in our family has been really interested… I think camping would be fun,” one young woman wrote, adding that if she could only go camping, she has been thinking about what she would take with her: rollerblades or a bike, lots of food, clothes, ingredients for s’mores, and folding chairs, all in an RV. A young man wrote: “I do not know if I will ever go camping in my life, but I would sure enjoy it.” Contrast those wistful comments with those of Eric, 11: “It was the best time I ever had with my dad.” Why do we take our children camping? For the same reasons we do it ourselves. Camping is a wonderful way for a family to vacation, and it’s an opportunity for children and parents to spend time together and get to know each other better. Camping can be luxurious or spare. Camping families may cover many miles or restrict themselves to a single park. The usual rules of hygiene may be followed or relaxed. It can be fun, educational, and economical. Camping can be a spiritual experience, as it is for Sara and her family, who often read a prayer service together when they are camped on the Sabbath. Or it can be a challenge, as it is for Diana’s family, who try to live for a few days with a minimum of material goods. Or it can be an exercise in simplicity, as it is...
