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When warm nights beckon kids to brave the wilds of the back yard and beyond, you'll need some recommendations and resources about family camping to get them ready.

Family camping is one of my childhood's great pleasures. But in this day and age, when horror movies and environmental disasters can make a vacation in the great outdoors seem frightening and unpredictable, parents need to prepare young children for the adventure. Camping with toddlers is great fun, especially is you follow my How-To's for introducing the fine art of camping-out to kids.

Spencer Family Camping Tips

• Before the family heads off to camp, do a "test run" in a nearby campground to make sure equipment performs properly. There's nothing worse than finding out that zippers on sleeping bags jam or that kids don't know how to close the tent!
• Give kids lots of practice with new gear and nature skills and a chance to learn something for themselves about camping skills. Some kids are totally surprised that they are ready for sleep by eight and up at five.
• Kids often become voracious eaters when camping, so planning extra meals and snacks is not a bad idea. Many a camping child who would never think of eating a vegetable at home will eagerly ask for seconds if it was cooked in a fire.
• Leave electronics at home; camping is supposed to be different! If the thought of "No Gameboy" is too abhorrent to contemplate, you might put old batteries in it before they leave.
• Once they get out in the wild, most kids are thrilled with the new and dangerous world of knives, hatchets, fire, sticks, skunk visits, and forget about the music and video games.
• When packing, be sure to include extra pairs of glasses or contacts for your kid, too; it's always a mystery how glasses disappear on camping trips and how contact lenses get attacked by dust devils and tumbleweed fragments at inopportune moments.

Camping is often the first adventure for kids learning independence. Give them the role models they need and they'll do just fine!  And of course a good book and a bedtime story never hurt either.