How to Include Teenagers in Your Family Camping Trip

Camping is a great family activity that can bring everyone closer together. But what happens when a certain part of your family doesn’t want to be included? We are of course talking about teenagers. Teenagers start to develop their own lives and opinions which can make it difficult to include them in your camping adventure. However, it is not impossible. Listed below are a few easy ways to include your teenager.

• Include them in the process

Teenagers are at the age where they require freedom more than anything. If you take charge of planning a trip without their opinion then it will likely fail. We suggest you pick a few locations and activities then ask what they think. Make your decisions as a team.

• Consider planning shorter trips

Kiefer Campgrounds would love for you to stay with us for months at a time but your teenager may think otherwise. Teenagers have other priorities such as jobs or friends. They do not want to leave these for longer than a few days. We suggest planning trips that are only 3-4 days long.

• Don’t cut off social connections

We know that it can be a bummer if your teenager sits on their phone the whole trip. However, banning technology is not the solution. This will force your teenager to dislike the entire experience. We recommend introducing limited screen time. Set specified times they are allowed on their phone. We also recommend choosing campgrounds with good cell service and Wi-Fi. Kiefer Campgrounds has recently updated the Wi-Fi at two of our campgrounds with updates at the other two coming soon.

• Add new adventures

Relaxing camping trips are great but not exactly what a teenager has in mind. Teenagers enjoy new activities. This could be as simple as trying new restaurants or as thrilling as white water rafting. The activity does not matter, as long as it is new. Check out our Things to Do page on each of our Kiefer Campground’s website for some ideas.

• Encourage them to bring a friend

Yes we know that two teenagers may sound worse than one but hear us out! Teenagers are very social and dislike being cut off from friends. Bringing a friend with them can easily solve this problem. This also gives them someone who will want to participate in the same activities.

Camping might not be your teenager’s favorite activity but hopefully, with these tips, they will start to include themselves more. If you would like to put these tips to the test then go ahead and book your site now! We hope to see you soon!