Who introduced you to camping?

Recently the 2012 Camper report has been published and in it you can learn quite a bit about stats regarding people camping.   Camping is a tradition for many and it is gaining more and more in popularity.   The American Camper Report contains 59 pages of detailed data and analysis on camping trends in the US.   Now, some of you might say – what a minute… aren’t you Canadian?  Yes I am but I strongly believe that our stats would be somewhat similar to the ones from US citizens.   Now as I was peeking into the participation, preferences, buying behavior and future of camping, my eyes caught a particular title that got me thinking…  Who Introduces People to Camping?

According to the research 44% of campers were introduce to camping by their fathers and mothers had a greater influence on the younger generations than the older one.

Seeing these numbers got me thinking on how I got introduced to camping and how my kids were introduced to it.

From what I can glean from my history, I was introduced at camping at a young age.   I have picture of me taken during a camping trip during the summer in 1969 when I was still a baby.    Though I don’t remember much of our camping expedition in a tent, I do remember the tent itself as we often put it up in the backyard when I was in 3^rd and 4^th grade.    It was a canvas tent and putting it up was very difficult.   At some point in time, I know that we had a pop-up trailer that we parked at my uncle’s land in Valcourt on the 3^rd lane.   I can still picture this small trailer and its interior as I recall my “accident”  when I was younger.  To make a long story short, I had in my head to close the window in order to reduce the noise of the adults speaking around the fire.   I put my foot on the middle table between the beds and this table slid…  I fell, my face hit a metal part near the window and my skin ripped open.  The cries brought my mom in and within minutes we were in the car driving to a hospital located one hour from there.  Stitches were necessary and to this day I remember seeing the blood from my face on towels.   But the pop-up trailer and the tent itself disappeared from my life at some point.

I also camped a lot while in the girl guides.   Thought when younger we would rent some facilities for week-end away from parents, it came to an age when we were sleeping in tents during the summer, using outhouses and being away for over a week.

When I met my husband it has been numerous years since I had camped.  But with the young adults doing camping trips, we decided to purchase a tent when we were young married.   This was not a great investment for my husband.  Unfortunately for him he is the type of guy who gets warm rapidly and he likes air conditioning.   My oldest has camp in a tent but at some point we purchase a pop-up trailer.  Our second and third children were introduced to camping with this pop-up trailer and we enjoyed our time together (and yes there was air conditioning).   In 2007, we decided to invest in a RV as our family grew as well.   The main reason in investing in our RV was to make memories as a family and also we have quickly realized that camping also reduce the expenses when going in vacation – both eating out and having an hotel room were getting expensive and with four kids in the family it was almost impossible to stay in hotels with only one room.

My kids enjoy the time we spend at the RV whether we are traveling or not.   They are always speaking of what they did and what they want to do when the campground opens up.   I know something that they don’t know yet.  Our campground has invested with a new zip line going in the lake for the upcoming season.   I know some boys who will think that it is totally awesome!

I suspect that my own kids will introduce their kids to camping in the future as they are already talking about what they would like to have and to do in the future.  Already they are making plans of doing family trips all together with their spouses and kids.   I am looking forward to these expeditions together.

What about you?   How were you introduced to camping?  Take a minute or two to share your first camping experience with me.