No Privacy

Living in a tent day in and day out with three kids has it’s downside. Though we are out in the middle of nowhere, we have no walls to muffle the sound of our adult private conversations. Every whisper is heard. I mean, these kids have some pretty impressive super sonic hearing. They hear everything, they see everything, and they are a part of everything whether we want them to be or not!

By this point, we know everything there is to know about each other, including who’s fart smells like what 😂

yes, I just said that 😯

Seriously though. When we want “time to ourselves” it simply involves one of us taking a walk while the other stays behind and watches the kids.

My oldest son Donavan will be 13 this December. He’s been a trooper sharing a bed with his two sisters. At home he has his own room– here he and his sister decided to put the two cots together to make one big bed so they could share the big sleeping bag and utilize each other’s body heat to keep warm. Smart.

Of course we have to hear them all bicker every morning and night. “Scoot over” “your hogging all the blanket” “stop kicking me”.

I know how important it is for a growing boy entering into the pre-teen years to have his own space. I have come up with a plan. I can’t give him his own room but I can give him his own personal sleeping bag and bed.

We found these amazing bunk beds that turn into a little love seat when not in use. I am excited to get them setup. They should save us space too!

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Privacy is not a luxury we have here. It would be nice to have but then again, I feel like it’s brought us closer together. Whole families used to live together in one house in the nineteenth century and long before that. They were called multigenerational families and it’s starting to make a comeback today.

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Some privacy tips when camping with children

• Send the kids on a scavenger hunt when you and your S.O. need some “alone time”.
• Announce that you are going to the bathroom so that you don’t get walked up on.
• Announce when you are getting dressed and face away from little eyes.
• Use noise isolating head phones to block out everything for awhile if you need.
• Take a long walk and make sure no one sees which way you went Lol.
• Get a tent with a privacy screen or separate rooms.
• Use a towel to hang over a canopy–use as a shower curtain while bathing.
• Take a drive.

Limited privacy is a matter of inconvenience or annoyance more than anything, but for us we make it about establishing boundaries and teaching the kids respect. We are forced on a daily basis to respect one another’s space and have boundaries. I think it’s an important thing to teach young ones especially at an early age.

Would you agree?