westernrvparkowner wrote:
And if your grandkids are clawing at the windows to go back home after a day, why do you continue to bring them to the campground making both you and them miserable?
We had two grandsons, ages 9 and 10, accompany us for an entire month in Alberta this summer. We had wonderful days exploring glaciers and watching wildlife, but like most children some indoor diversions were useful in the morning and late in the day.
For the first 3 weeks we couldn't get satellite TV because of trees and mountains so I was able to observe how they entertained themselves when that outlet was removed. Fortunately, although we had no TV we did have a USB data modem on one of the Canadian cellular carriers.
The boys had unfettered access to an iPad and a Nexus tablet. I hadn't appreciated how many of the games they played required internet access even after the game was downloaded. I also did not realize how many different games they would want to download (free ones only!)
We had Skype sessions with their moms several times during the month, although that was more for them than the boys. And because of the lack of TV I finally gave in and streamed a few movies on a couple of nights when everyone was tired and just needed some down time.
All-in-all we burned through ~12 GB in the month which cost me ~$125 since there's no wifi in Canada's national parks. Sure it wasn't cheap, but a month with our grandson's was priceless!
The bottom line for me was that even though the kids had a great time and so did we, it is very difficult to separate today's kids from electronics and the internet. It is an integrated part of their lives.
