Being a Northwest girl, there is some camping in my background, especially in my college days. Wow, those days seem quite remote now. Recently boys have been asking to go camping, so we thought we would start small and set up a tent in the back yard. This was a REALLY good plan! Of course, we also had to have the essential elements of FOOD and FIRE to make this a truly spectacular event for them.
Abby went on to her own bed and me and my 8 months pregnant belly left the fellas out in the tent with their dad. With the smell of campfire smoke in my hair and gooey marshmallow smeared on my pants, I went back and quietly listened at the door to Jason telling the boys tales of his childhood. I felt overwhelmed with thankfulness that my children have this kind of dad. The boys were completely enthralled, begging for more stories.
A book I have been reading recently was encouraging moms to have regular tea parties with their kids for the purpose of building relationships with them and discipling them through spending special time together. I think we have found our “tea party” equivalent in the campfire and tent arrangement- it fits with the boy’s God-given design perfectly.
