"Close the curtain. No, open it. Halfway. No, more."
That's Nico at 8:31 p.m. in a pop-up camper, and it's the sound of the one brand-new argument the camper brought into our family. Almost everything else about bedtime got better. I'll get to the curtain.
We've now slept five nights in a pop-up: three in the rented one at Myakka in November and two in our own at Long Pine Key last month. Baseball has me at the field most evenings until spring break, so I'm writing this on a rainy Tuesday when practice got called, with Bahia Honda three weeks away and plenty of time to think about bedtime.
What a bed end changes
Our camper has a king bed end on one side for Dana and me, a queen end on the other for the kids, and the dinette and door in between. The kids' end has its own curtain. That one strip of fabric is the biggest change in how our family camps.
In the tent, bedtime was four sleeping bags in a row. Nico kicked. Maya's headlamp swung into everyone's eyes while she read. Dana and I lay there in the dark at 9 p.m. because there was nowhere else to be, whispering until someone told us to stop. Every night ended at the same moment for all four of us, ready or not.
Our routine now
- 7:45: teeth and pajamas at the bathhouse, with headlamps.
- 8:15: into the kids' end. Both of Nico's shoes go in the bin by the door, or there's no story. (He loses one shoe per trip, and this is our latest attempt.)
- 8:20: one chapter read aloud by Dana or me, sitting on the edge of the bed end.
- 8:30: curtain. Maya reads by headlamp for 20 minutes. Nico gets the USB clip fan on low for the hum.
- 8:50: headlamps off.
Nico, who falls asleep within 20 minutes of any car ride, falls asleep within about 15 minutes of that curtain. Maya is usually out by 9:15, book on her chest.
What got easier
- Maya reads without bothering anyone. The curtain keeps her headlamp on her side of the camper, and she's nine and ready to read longer than her brother can stay awake.
- Dana and I get an evening. An hour at the dinette with the lantern on low: the trip log, a game of cards, plans for the next morning. We got our first taste of it at Myakka, and it's the part of the camper Dana brings up most.
- Nobody gets kicked. The queen end is big enough for a nine-year-old and a six-year-old, with a pillow line down the middle.
- Mornings have some privacy. The kids change behind the curtain, which matters more to Maya this year than it did last year.
Two new rules came with the bed ends. First, no bouncing. The bed ends rest on the frame and support poles, and Gary, who delivered our rental at Myakka, told the kids on day one that they're beds, not trampolines. Nico tested that once and got the look. Second, the bed ends run cooler than the middle of the camper. At 57 degrees at Long Pine Key, the canvas on the kids' end felt cold to the touch, so they sleep in their sleeping bags with a fleece blanket on top, even on mild nights.
The curtain
And now the argument. Nico wants the curtain open so he can see the lantern and hear us talking. Maya wants it closed because it's "her space" and "the whole point." Both of them are right, which is the worst kind of argument to referee.
Here's where we landed after two nights of negotiations. The curtain closes, except for a gap about six inches wide at the end closest to the door, held open with a clothespin. Nico sleeps on that side, near the gap and the lantern glow. Maya gets the side by the wall and the zip-up window, which she says is the better side anyway. Dana turns the lantern to its lowest setting, and the clothespin stays where it is until both kids are asleep.
Maya wrote the arrangement into her color-coded list, in green, under "Sleeping." Nico has asked to bring a second clothespin to Bahia Honda, in case the first one gets tired.
