IMG_20160529_171013993_HDRHow do you get a 3.5 year old to want to get ready for bed early?

Put up a tent in your back garden!

We discovered at the end of our last camping trip that our tent leaks quite significantly so we needed to put it up to take a look and decide what to do ahead of this year’s camping season.

Cue one very excited son requesting his pyjamas on at 5pm, asking frequently to sleep in the tent to make sure we understood what he wanted and being most concerned that everyone else put their pyjamas on as soon as possible too.

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Roll mats make good play dens too

Several trips to and from the house to top up the tent’s toy selection, a mammoth storytime, the need to incorporate the garden slide into the sleeping arrangements and five hours later, he finally calmed down enough to actually sleep.

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Top tip: You should probably make sure your tent will fit in your garden before attempting to pitch it

Waking up to birdsong is lovely, shame that it was 4am and that my roll mat had been upside down all night.

At some point we will need to reclaim our garden as the tent does take up the whole lawn.  And whilst the weather’s nice it’s easy enough to fulfil his desire to sleep outside but this is England and it’s not going to last.  I’m not sure he’s going to take the news well.

When our car broke down last year we did consider not replacing it at all at first and I’m fairly sure Luke is now contemplating if there’s a real need for bricks and mortar when you can have canvas but I’m also sure that mummy and daddy would come to a much quicker and more definite decision about that.

But at least we know he’ll be looking forward to a few weekends away in the tent again this year, if we can ever convince him to get dressed again that is.