Help Children Handle Things That Go Bump In The Night

By: Allen Macartney

Rating -  **** Excellent

This article gives tips and tricks for kids to love sleeping in a tent.

Some of the tips that Macartney gives in the article are getting kids to listen to the sounds of night creatures (e.g. owls, loons...etc.) and identify their specific sounds, by listening to them on Youtube or Cornell University’s ornithology website. Also another tip is to get kids to check out the campsite during the daytime, so they can see that there is nothing to be scared of if they hear sounds at night (e.g. trees creaking). The next tip suggested by the author is to get everyone to listen to the woods for ten minutes before going to sleep. Then everyone shares back to give a list of things that they heard. Another trick is to get kids to get to imitate sounds of the night (e.g. loons). The final trick Macartney offers is to tell them silly stories of when you thought there was a bear outside the tent but in the morning you found out it was a racoon. Get them to laugh at your mistake.

I felt connected to the kids mentioned in the article when they talked about being scared of bears or things crawling outside their tent. To overcome my fear as a kid, my parents made me listen to other sounds such as the water going through the rapids. Eventually I adjusted to the darkness and sleeping in a tent. I learned some new tricks and tips to get kids comfortable sleeping in tents. The article can help me when I’m a counselor at my camp so I can help kids adjust to sleeping in tents. Also if I have kids of my own, when we go camping, I will be able get them to love sleeping in tents. It inspires me to help kids at camp by applying these tricks so they can have energy for the next day. I really like this article because I easily related to the topic and I liked the recommendations.

Macartney, A. (2014). Help Children Handle Things That Go Bump In The Night. Ottawa Outdoors, 06, 07-06, 07.