Move & Explore
Just being a kid
7-12
Tent Commandments: The half-gallon ice cream-carton potty . . . and other tips for hassle-free camping with kids
Photo and reporting by
Los Angeles Times
Michael and Katy carried a whistle, a water bottle and a silver garbage bag in their pockets on every camping trip, gear for if they ever got lost in the woods. Around the campfire they got a poking stick instead of a rule, which somehow kept them exactly four feet from the flames on their own.
Somebody said yes
She didn't tell them to stay back from the fire, she handed them each a stick and let the four feet of distance be their own idea.
Why we picked this one
Half of this piece reads like gear advice, but the actual system is that the kids are trusted with real tools, a whistle that works, a bag that keeps them warm and visible, a stick that keeps them from getting burned, and then left alone to use them. The ice cream carton potty is the joke. The stick by the fire is the point.
Pitch the tent in the yard, zip each kid into their own sleeping bag, and say the rule out loud before dark: no coming inside tonight, not for the bathroom, not for the noise outside, not for anything. Leave a half-gallon ice cream carton lined with a garbage bag by the tent flap so that excuse is gone before it starts.
Read the full story at
Los Angeles Times
Where it happened:
Southern California
There's an empty ice cream carton in your recycling and a whistle in a junk drawer somewhere, that's the whole kit, so what's actually stopping you from one night in the backyard this weekend?