On the Coast – Families Issue 92 | February / March 18 | Page 26

The Wind in the Tent Flys
The Trials and Tribulations of mother
plus 2 children camping by Julie Hale
T
he day dawns on the day of
departure for a weekend
camping holiday with Mother and
two children, to a camping ground
close to home. Planning to arrive
early to enjoy the facilities all day.
7am Mother rises, Children sleep, Father
takes daughter’s dog for a walk. 8am
Mother has breakfasted, showered,
packed her bag and planned the camping
requirements, menu, shopping list and
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KIDZ O N T H E C OA ST
departure time. Father has walked the
dog and breakfasted, and Then joins
the Children, AND the Dog in bed having
tickling competitions! Neither father nor
dog are going camping, but are happily
distracting the children from their
preparation. Needless to say, Mother is
not happy. Children thereafter attempt
to make amends quickly packing amidst,
comments like “we didn’t know the time”,
“can’t we just go later” etc. Meanwhile,
Mother prepares tent, food, etc and lines
up the bags and boxes in the hallway
ready for the car. One child packs their
bag, walks past the camping equipment
to sit and play online ‘space invaders’
not noticing said camping items ready to
put in the car. Finally, all set, we depart,
and arrive and check in at camp without
incident and collect wifi passcodes!
Forecast is for unrelenting wind, so
there is no choice but for Mother and
teen daughter to battle the wind to put
up the tent. Thwarted by insufficient