My son will officially be a hanger on Friday

[TheWild]

My oldest son will turn 4 this Friday, so as good parents we of course want to give him the best present possible.

My wife wrongly believes that kids are into toys and cartoons (), so I had to correct her on that and order a hammock for him
(he'll get toys and cartoons as well )
He loves hanging, so he might as well have his own hammock now

I ordered the Trekmates Jungle Hammock with mosquito net. I'll probably go DIY on a tarp just for the fun of it, and my son would love helping me out, so it's a win-win situation

Any tips for hanging with kids? Any suggestions gear wise?

Thanks in advance!

/Wild

[bigbamaguy]

Wild:
Go check out Just Jeffs site: tothewoods.net or .com not sure on that one. He has a great section on hanging/hiking with kids. From experience and can tell you that little "city" girls do not handle the woods all that well. It was a long night, but we made it through. Keep it short in distance and long on keeping their attention and you should have no problems.

[TheWild]

Wild:
Go check out Just Jeffs site: tothewoods.net or .com not sure on that one. He has a great section on hanging/hiking with kids. From experience and can tell you that little "city" girls do not handle the woods all that well. It was a long night, but we made it through. Keep it short in distance and long on keeping their attention and you should have no problems.

Thanks for the tip bigbamaguy, I'll check out JJ's site....

Glad you made it through with the girls...have thy gone back to the woods since, or do they now insist on staying at home?
Luckily my sons LOVES the outdoors and sleeping in the woods... to active some times - his dad likes to relax in camp, but are forced to roam around with him in the forest, on beach or whatever place we go

/Wild

[Silverlion]

My son has ADHD and camping makes him a completely different kid. He's in his element and helps me get motivated for hiking and such. As far as advice, just make sure he stays warm at night and you will probably be problem free. If the kid's happy, daddy's happy.

[moski]

COOL!

I am really happy that you wrote this in English,
since my kid is 6yr and have no hammock.

Wait, he can't read at all, not even Swedish, so i am safe

Report on that hammock later on, plz
Why did you pick it ?
Cheep and English i quess

I would really like a short kid version with mosie net. (Lighter).

[TheWild]

My son has ADHD and camping makes him a completely different kid. He's in his element and helps me get motivated for hiking and such. As far as advice, just make sure he stays warm at night and you will probably be problem free. If the kid's happy, daddy's happy.

When my son is with on my trips, I often wake up several times a night, just to check that he's not cold.

My parents once took care of a young boy with ADHD every other weekend... sorta to relieve his mother once in a while.
His energy level was way more than most could cope with, but as soon as he was in the woods or when I took him fishing, he calmed down a lot and his ability to focus improved significantly. Cool kid!

Happy Hangin' to both you and your son

[TheWild]

COOL!

I am really happy that you wrote this in English,
since my kid is 6yr and have no hammock.

Wait, he can't read at all, not even Swedish, so i am safe

Report on that hammock later on, plz
Why did you pick it ?
Cheep and English i quess

I would really like a short kid version with mosie net. (Lighter).

My first thought was to find a smaller hammock with mosi net, but I couldn't find it anywhere. And from the second DK hang, I knew that a larger hammock is OK for him. We borrowed one from Bomber - it might actually have been a Trekmates as well

Main reason for picking the Trekmates was availibility... It was in stock locally and since I need it for Friday, I ended up ordering it.
I could have placed an order for a WBBB, but then I'd endup stealing his birthday present

I'll add a small review and pictures later.

/Wild

[opie]

Boy I wish I had started earlier with my son. His interest peaks on everything else other than the joys of going camping. He wants nothing to do with a hammock and wont go camping with me unless I have the tent on the truck.

Now my Daughter.... Shes a daddies girl and cant wait till next summer for her first camping trip.

My advice isnt about hammocks..... But get the kids out there. I messed up with our first...

EDIT: For the kids... a DIY hammock would work well. You can make it to fit them and it wont cost you alot of money to do so. Just about any fabric will work for kids as they arent all that heavy yet.

[TheWild]

Maybe I'm messing up on other fronts (time will tell), but they'll get all the camping experience they want

How old is your daughter opie? I started camping with my oldest son right before he turned 3.

/Wild

[Hangin'Yankee]

I'd say, just get 'em out there.

Make sure they sleep warm and have dry clothes to change into. Something tasty that they can help you cook. My kids love taco pockets/pizza sandwiches. Let 'em play in the fire(supervised), help you build the fire, etc.

Short hikes for the younger ones.

I've got 5 kids and they all love backpacking. They started getting out with me on short trips when they were 3-4 years old. They liked finding "treasures" on each trip.

HY