By Shuhada Elis

OUR petite 5-year-old gently calls for my attention. Waggling eyebrows, his pouty lips pointing toward a medium-sized black ant that’s swiftly crawling up his arm.

He’s being rather comical but in actual fact, it’s a cry for help. A signal that I should get rid of the ant, pronto.

What a surprise, I thought. I extended my hand and with one flick, the ant fell to the side.

Less than a year ago, this boy, often mistaken for a girl for his long wavy locks and curly eyelashes, would’ve screamed at the sight of a small house ant that came several inches close.

If you weren’t looking, you’d think a terrifying creature was about to swallow him whole. But on our last eighth camping trip, he was all cool about it.

It’s a progress, really. Introducing our kids to camping was one of the best decisions which helped boost their mental and physical strengths, we’re so glad we made the move.

It all began in late 2021, right after the Covid-19 Movement Control Order (MCO) was lifted. My husband had been lobbying the idea for ages, but I just couldn’t find the gut in me to try out.

Why should I leave the comfort of our home to spend the night outdoors? And what if the kids and I need to go for a toilet run in the wee hours of the morning? The dark surroundings and strange animal sounds at night would surely send jitters down my spine.

Taking our children out camping has surely strengthened their kinship.

These thoughts were in my head for as long as I could remember, until that one monotonous night after spending dreadful MCO months indoors that got me thinking; why not try something out of the ordinary?

So off we went to our first camping attempt, with bare-minimum arrangement, to Pantai Bagan Lalang in Sepang. For a newbie family, our night out went rather steadily in the beginning.

We put up the tent that my husband bought years ago, lit up a small campfire from scratch — which undoubtedly took some time — lie down and gazed at the stars while listening to the calming sound of the waves and soft jazz music… until the rain started pouring!

It was 2am when the wind at the beach grew intense and almost blew our tent away. But we soldiered on like a pro. In between saving the tent from flying and shoving the kids into the car, a memory of a lifetime was created.

The thrill lasted for 20 minutes and my husband was drenched from head to toe. When things got quiet, we laughed our heads off realising how our first camping trip ended up as a night out in the car instead. On the Toto mattress spread at the back of the car, the kids sang songs to their hearts content and only dozed off at 5am, amidst the drizzle outside.

It was truly a night to remember.

Fast forward to today, we’ve since gone to five beach and three riverside campings. Not many, but counting. Our last trip was to Ulu Sepri campsite in Rembau, several weeks before the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan.

Our eldest daughter helping Baba to put up the tent at a campsite in Sedim, Kulim, Kedah.

Although there are still plenty of things to learn, I discover that camping provides a host of benefits — for both myself and the kids. Among the apparent ones are how we built confidence and courage in braving darkness at night, and not to invite or overthink any negative vibes.

Our two girls are tougher in a sense that they no longer need Mami or Baba to accompany them to every trip to the loo, save for at night, and could sleep soundly till morning without having to sandwich themselves in between us.

The kids also learned to develop new skills while helping Baba putting up and taking down the tent, and our eldest is training how to light up campfire. The younger ones were usually tasked to find dry leaves, twigs and branches.

These simple actions, whether we realise it or not, help strengthen relationships. Our kids learn to build trust and cooperation — and the bonus part is they get to connect with nature, increase their physical fitness, and unplug from the screens, which majority of modern parents are having a tough time to deal with.

We hope camping will not only teach them basic survival skills, but also give them confidence and self-worth that carries over into all other aspects of life as they grow.

That said, we might explore a new river campsite in the North as we’re traveling back for Hari Raya. Time to discover new things!

Nature is the best way to keep us grounded and contribute to physical wellbeing.

NOTE: Shuhada Elis chose kids over her writing career and is picking up where she left off after a decade. Here, she shares her valuable journey in raising three blessed gifts who make her life whole.