Glamping: A Diary and Review Of What Was Great (And Not So)

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Recently we did something only parents who miss the outdoors can do when they are also simultaneously dealing with (between them) back injuries and all the thrills of a third trimester pregnancy. We went glamping in the highlands.

Travelling can be tiring in itself and at the end of the day your body and mind need optimal rest because that is the basic biological needs that keep us healthy and energetic. Otherwise you would be booking yourself in for “real rest” after being worn out and done in on a holiday—not our intention!

It was both fantastic and a bag of surprises. The cool and relaxed environment of the highlands was compromised by a few design flaws.

Why people are loving glamping

Whether it is called glam camping, luxurious, posh, luxe camping, luxury boutique camping, there is a trend for an experience under canvas, which focuses on the environment, respects nature, and keeps it as high quality and as local and artisan as possible.

The aim is usually to offer a comfortable, accessible way to spend time reconnecting to nature and partake in its health benefits—without adding any stress, which can happen occasionally with traditional camping.

Where we stayed was more camp than glamp, though. Indeed, as its name (which I’m deciding to omit) suggested.

It’s been a while since we’ve stayed “on the land” with the small ones so these factors stood out during our stay.

We hope these biological factors are also helpful for you to consider and understand what makes being outdoors in nature so healing, as well as the possible detractors and discomforts in any environment that can compromise your level of rejuvenation and rest.

Before going into the factors, it might be helpful to have a sense of how the place was laid out.

The tents were located side by side and most of them faced inwards to a communal round area. The others were further up the hill. The toilets were cubicles situated together, and downward some metres away from the tents. Plastic sheeting helped keep the load of the highlands’ heavy rainfall off the tent itself and black garden netting kept the glare off. Garden patches made up the walkway up a tiered gentle slope to the tents. These factors helped us expect that the glamping site was geared towards being social (they have many groups and families), that could explain their priorities for how area is designed.

The orientation of the light sources

The camping ground is a public space regularly booked by families, so we understand the liberal use of light probably for safety reasons. However, these lights were bright! Bright LED bulbs have unnatural spikes in the blue wavelength that suppresses melatonin—the very hormone that wants to kick in at dusk for optimal rest and rejuvenation. The lighting clashes with the gentle hues of sundown, and forced a brightness over the grounds well into the night. Our tent opening faced one of these flood lights directly. It was impossible getting to sleep until Papa cleverly used the duvets as blackout curtains instead. We also used our hoodies and extra clothes as eye masks. Long sleeves and pants and socks help cover the body to keep the dark environment for the best release of melatonin.

Orientation of the fire pits

The communal spaces and offerings for a steamboat and hotpot helped set a friendly and social vibe. Perfect for a cool mountain camping! The smoke, however, wafted into the tents. No one wants to deal with smarting eyes and stuffed noses in a tent…

The toilets were lit

Similar to the point about the bright lights above… Taking a loo break at night was blinding. It took a while getting back to sleep.

Ambient noise levels

The quaint spot was marred by surrounding traffic that continued well into midnight. Do people really enjoy camping by traffic roads?

Choice of bedding

This factor may come across as a matter of comfort and lifestyle over health. However, the quality of the sheets has a direct impact on the quality of your sleep. No one is expecting a five-star style sheet and mattress combo at most campgrounds, but the rough polyester was uncomfortable and sticky to lay on in the humid weather.

Would the polyester sheets withstand mold better, I wondered, as the mattresses were directly placed on the cold humid ground.

Using strongly-fragranced washing detergent put another dampener on the fresh outdoor experience. We wanted the fresh air, and joked that we will now also remember the scent of the detergent in the tent.

Privacy

Our neighbours were very considerate and most had retired into their tents by 11pm. Still the challenge of the space meant the tents were mere metres from one another. One could hear what was going on in the next tent (and on their TVs). How can privacy in a small space be protected?

Material of the tent

This factor is a tricky one as the choices of tents suitable for families, yet suitable for a very wet and cool climate can be limited in the market. The tents are relatively new — the campsite is not more than a year old or so, however they are already growing moldy on the outside. If anyone has suggestions on tents and outdoor setups that can take our extreme humidity, it would be so useful to know.

Waste grey water disposal

Waste water flows by a rivulet on the side down to...an external drain. I can see they tried their logical best with the location of the pipe placements carrying it out to the side and down the entire one side of the site. The smell was not the best, and we weren’t sure how the waste was going.

Last thoughts: Roughing it out need not be too rough in the outdoors

To creatively think about how to sleep and rest better is something I enjoy thinking about in every new spot I travel to, whether a swanky hotel or a rustic “glamping” spot. This is especially when we bring the littles along. Because travel can be tiring, and the outdoors can be a mix of potentially great recuperation and great elemental challenges.

Thus, the experience of a glamping site was an interesting case study.

By no means do I mean this as a full review of the glamping site and experience itself. I didn’t try the cooking experience myself and I didn’t go for the spa in a bus.

But I was intrigued by how the principles of building biology apply even more in such an outdoor environment. Thus, I hope this article was helpful for you to consider when you next go camping or glamping, to make the utmost of your outdoor adventure.

Do you enjoy the outdoors? Have you gone glamping? What did you expect and not expect from the experience? I would love to know!

Building Healthy Habits with Outdoor Play During the Early Years

Updated 10 Jan 2022

Most parents know their children do better after a good bout of play outdoors. The fresh elements, natural sensory elements, and opportunities for creative imagination are part of why we as adults appreciate and enjoy the calming aspects of nature too.

Why do we need to build habits with outdoor play?

Most of us would say our kids are spending too much time indoors (usually watching TV and playing video and computer games).  A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the average eight to eighteen year old kid is now spending an alarming 7 hours and 38 minutes of electronic screen time per day—that is almost half their waking hours.

Often the focus is on “pre-preparation” for academics, or the training of the mind; but we ensure our children develop healthy bodies by playing outdoors. The recommendation for the preschool years is at least 1 hour of outdoor play. In Singapore, the Health Ministry and Education Ministry in 2017 said that pre-school children will get at least an hour of physical activity a day, double the current 30 minutes.

Time outdoors in natural spaces help calm the body’s sympathetic/stress responses. Researchers at the University of Illinois have determined that 30 minutes of time in a park setting will help children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to be able to concentrate in the classroom and act more calmly and with more focus at home. 

Homeschooling curriculums recognise how important getting outdoor activity is to the success of the daily rhythm of learning and playing. For example, Charlotte Mason recommends even more — 4 to 6 hours of outdoor play!

(Side note: Charlotte Mason wrote books about educating children, and her philosophy advised delaying formal education until age six, instead advocating play (a lot of it outdoors!) and work with the gentle boundaries of the family. Nature study is a very important component to a Charlotte Mason method. Mason believed children should spend as much time as possible outdoors, and had students keep detailed nature journals and used nature guides to discover and identify the natural world in their neighborhood.)

In this post, I'll share with you some ideas ideas that you can use for to build healthful habits with your little ones during outdoor play. Given the opportunity to play outdoors and have fun, children will develop meaningful connections with their natural environment and build habits into their grown-up years!

1. Embrace the outdoors, daily

Once in Norway, and again in Finland, I heard the phrase: No bad weather, but poor clothing. Charmed by the Scandinavian attitude and the array of outdoor sports available in the worst of winters, I began to adopt this when I had my own children, and then learnt different cultures have their own variations of the same phrase.

I live where searing heat and persistent mosquitos can wear me down during the hotter seasons, and make any outdoor attempt a plain drag (if not danger for heat stroke). To work around this, we played early in the morning or snuck quick trips to the playground after the worst heat of the day was over. Outdoors is not a novelty, but part of our daily routine.

Modern research supports this. Lack of outdoor time is linked to many childhood problems, like Sensory Processing Disorder, obesity, and even ADHD.

“Never be within doors when you can rightly be out.” Charlotte Mason, Home Education, page 42

Have meals al fresco (or at a balcony). Take your chores and hobbies outside. Find any way to situate your activities outdoors, or a semi-outdoor environment.

2. Observe the patterns and cycles of Nature

Ask the child to go observe the clouds, a tree, flower, or other interesting feature. Have them come back to report what they have seen. This helps increase their vocabulary, ability to remember, and ability to recount without exaggeration.

This encourages a child to use their five senses while looking at things in nature, or objects around the house. It also sharpens their relationship to their natural environment.

3. Take time to touch and ground

If you’re wearing shoes all the time, try taking them off to feel the fresh grass. Pause to touch the soft petals of a flower, or hear the hum of a bee. These actions offer ways for your bodies to ground to the Earth and absorb its beneficial frequencies, instead of skimming past when we are outdoors.

4. Slow your rhythm to match Nature’s frequencies

Ask your children to “listen to the quiet or to any buzzes and hums you hear. At appropriate times, make space for a break to take in. If your children are a little older, ask them describe to you this landscape of calm silence. This can seem like an abstract task, but it can be enjoyable when presented as a game.

This helps a child grow awareness of the difference between feeling busy, especially if you live hectic schedules amidst city living, and feeling calm. He or she will easily connect the ways to access this, through attention to their body’s awareness.

5. Let them play

When you and your child are outside for play, don’t waste the opportunity by impeding your child’s play. This means giving them space and time to play, uninterrupted (under your watchful eye). True free play is the work that children must do to grow and develop a strong body and mind.

Sometimes this means letting your toddler climb the rings higher without saying “no, that’s dangerous”. Or gently guiding or diverting him or her without saying “you can’t do that.”

Let your five-year-old holler his heart out for a bit and hold any comment as he seems to swing a little too high. You’ll be heartened to observe, that usually, children can find their own boundaries. Your toddler will likely pause if he cannot reach a bar, and your primary school age child will choose not to climb to the top after all. Usually they find these boundaries better playing by themselves or in smaller, rather than larger, groups.

You will observe your children naturally inclined to seek these activities which stimulate the proprioceptive sense:

• Pushing (for example against heavy instruments as the swing, merry-go-round)

• Pulling (tug of war, or hanging from bars)

• Squeezing (climbing small spaces, crawling under structures)

• Climbing or lifting

• Stretching (e.g. more climbing and taking leaps!)

They are growing their proprioception (from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and capio “to take or grasp”) senses, which are what helps them understand their self-movement, force, and body position. Physical activities which stimulate this sense have an organising effect on the brain.

This sets them up for more disciplined movements later whether it is sports or sitting still for fine motor tasks — such as writing.

For some parents, getting outside seems more like a chore rather than a relaxing pleasure. There are risks and potential for accidents everywhere.

The hours that we spend outside are sure to make up some of your children’s most treasured memories of childhood. By making habits to connect better to our natural environment, you are building their toolset to help regulate their well-being, and growing their awareness of the natural elements.

Explore the many ways you can bring the outdoors to your indoor spaces, and children love this. If you want to create a biologically supportive indoor space for your children, get in touch for a FREE discovery call.

Managing Your Children During a Renovation or Move: Creating Opportunities for Growth

Moving house or embarking on a major home renovation can be tiring, stressful, and messy. It is a long haul process that requires your stamina and patience, and understandably you need all the time and space to plan and prepare for a major change in you and your family’s lives.

The only constant is change. Unless it’s my house. Then do not change it.

As I have heard and witnessed many house moves and changes, a lot of the stress is caused by friction among family members and the thinking that a house transition ought to be a certain fixed process when it is an organic, dynamic process of change.

One reason children can feel disengaged and un-confident in their work is because they are not empowered to take charge of the environment that they do their work and play in. They’ve never been asked about what they want to wear or what they like or not like about sleeping in particular spaces.

They may hear their mothers and fathers discuss the practical concerns of a house (sometimes in stressed tones), but not the supportive, more emotive aspects of it.

When we involve our children in a house move or renovation, we are inviting them to experience a beautiful process — where they are with the ones they require love most and working through life questions and dreams together. This can be big or small, and any child, whether a toddler or a teenager, can appreciate and be inspired by this change in life.

If you keep your children “out of the way” during this phase, they will experience a lack of integration into the new space. They’ve lost their familiar nooks and crannies and their things have been taken and put differently.

You will face a longer period of transition with your children in the new space. How will their new routines look? Where will their stuff go? Why the new space not working the way you thought it would?

Space is human

In 1921 Fritz von Bothmer was asked by Rudolf Steiner to develop the gymnastic education at the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart. When Bothmer confessed to feeling somewhat inadequate for the task, Steiner simply advised him to ‘be happy’ in his work. That is what he did; and gradually he evolved a series of gymnastic exercises for the children.

Home changes are always learning experiences

Moving home shakes up a lot of hidden or neglected assumptions about a space. This includes the sort of materials, too, in home furnishing that we did not realise are toxic.

Mold is a common example. Dismantling furniture, stripping wallpaper or paint, can reveal moisture issues. This can cause respiratory irritation, eye irritation and wheezing, especially in children who have underlying allergies or respiratory issues like asthma.

People often rush to renovate before a new baby arrives, but pregnant women should take care not to expose a fetus to harmful fumes and dust, especially in older homes.

Take the chance to explain to children why you do not want to be inhaling or ingesting harmful dust, especially for younger siblings who are infants and toddlers and spending a lot of time crawling on the ground.

Children have the power of loving imagination

Give your child a role and tasks. Open them up to the opportunities of being a family member who is able to create a beautiful, supportive space too.

Some thoughts to prepare your children for a house move or a major home renovation: 

1. Before you start involving your children, clarify your own intentions for your house move or renovation. This dispels any fears of your own.

2. Show your child everyday items (furniture, kitchen utensils, toys, books) that you may want or not, and why you are keeping or letting go of them.

3. Explain a house move or renovation as a process of making a home that supports what you want for your loved ones living in the space. This is a great way to explain gratitude and connection to a place.

4. Plan for age-appropriate and peaceful tasks where your child can participate. It could be sorting out their books or clothes. Or imagining how they will rebuild a Lego set.

5. Ask your child what types of projects and playtime they would love at the new space, perhaps perhaps painting and drawing, or a spot to practise their basketball throws. Children have powerful imagination that can help propel their actions. They will be ready for the tasks along the way if they create their big picture.

6. Give them age-appropriate tasks in the new space. It could setting out their books or clothes, mopping the floor, finding their nook on the kitchen shelf for their pet plant/fermentation project. It could simply be placing their pencil case and papers neatly at their desk.

are you planning a renovation or house move, if you want help with the process, book a 1-1 session with me through this link.