If you take your toddler camping, there are a few things you must always be mindful of, to make sure they stay safe.
Very little gives you as much opportunity for quality time with your child and the outdoors as camping. Being outside offers a feeling of freedom that kids and adults alike enjoy. You’re away from outside stress and reminders of the modern world, such as television or clocks. It’s just you and your youngster making fires, cooking outdoors and having adventures.

Of course, there are dangers to camping, but by taking a few precautions they can be avoided:

• Always supervise fires, and water activities
• Keep a close eye on your kids in the woods – children do get lost every year.
• Teach your children to keep still if they lose sight of you
• Attach a whistle to your child’s jacket so they can make a noise if lost
• Make sure you’re trained in first aid – accidents do happen outside and it may be a while til help comes. Also carry a first aid kit
• Depending on where you are, make sure you know if there will be wild animals around.
• Discouarage your kids from feeding animals – it attracts more, and they may bite when food runs out.

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If your toddler is sleeping in a room that she shares with a sibling, it may be a good idea to stagger bedtimes by 30 minutes or so, to give your toddler time to settle down and get to sleep. Otherwise there is the risk that she will use your presence to the bedroom as an excuse to get up again.

After a while, there’s a good chance your toddler will start to understand that when you put her to bed, it’s sleep-time, not play-time!

It’s very important that you are consistent, firm and persistent in enforcing the bedtime routine and rules, to stop the entire thing becoming a game that your child uses to push your boundaries and demand attention the whole time.

That said, you should be sensitive to the fact that sometimes when she calls out, she has a genuine need that you should attend to.If she’s scared of imaginary creatures in the cupboard, you can do a quick “check” to reassure her, but only once, and leave the light out. If she is afraid of the dark, then a plug-in glow nightlight can be a great help. She may also have filled her nappy – in which case, change it as quickly as possible, in low light and keeping very quiet. This might take a bit of getting used to for you, but the sooner you have a bedtime routine mastered, the sooner you will start to get some calm into your life again, so stick at it!

What to do if your toddler gets up after bedtime

You may find that your toddler is restless after you have put him to bed, or keeps getting up after “lights out”. This can be very frustrating as just when you think you’ve got some peace and quiet, it’s interrupted.
If this is a problem for you, here are a few things to try:

1. Avoid rough games in the hour before bed. If your child is excited, he won’t settle down very well
2. Keep to a routine at bedtime that is soothing and consistent
3. ake sure that there is nothing that your toddler needs before you leave him, then sooth him as you are leaving and remind him to go to sleep quietly
4. Although it can be very difficult, don’t take notice of calls after you have turned out the lights. Your toddler can be very loud in protesting, but you must resolve to ignore it. Responding will just encourage more protesting and trouble the following night.

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Toddlers tend to sleep better through the night than babies. Once you actually get them to bed, they are less prone to waking up. However, persuading them to get their head down and rest can be very difficult.

Toddlers by their very nature like to test boundaries – it’s part (more…)