Hanging in backyard with son

**Spiguyver** · 10-02-2016, 15:03

Last night my youngest son, just turned 7, and I spent the night in the backyard. I was afraid he wasn't going to be able to sleep, but that turned out not to be the case. I have been taking my middle son (12) out hiking/backpacking with me for the past few months and the youngest keeps asking when he'll be able to go. I didn't have a hammock for him, so a few weeks back there was a deal on Amazon for the Serac hammock, with suspension for like $27 shipped. I jumped at it, as I couldn't make a tablecloth hammock for that price. For his needs, it's perfect. Heavier than the Dutch hammocks my other son and I have, but perfect for car camping or backyard hanging.

While he slept great, I had some trouble. At about midnight one of my neighbors had some friends over, they were drinking and sitting on their back porch. Their lights shined right into my yard. My son slept through it, but I didn't. The finally quieted down around 2am and I got to sleep. I had a fronkey net on his hammock to keep the mosquitoes at bay. That meant when he got up at 6am to pee, I had to get up. We went back to our hammocks until about 6:45 when he wanted to go watch tv.

Overall, I'd say it was a success. Shows he can sleep in the hammock, and the noises didn't give him any trouble. Not sure if that will translate to the sounds of the woods, but we'll see. This won't be the last hang for him!

**Eidson** · 10-02-2016, 17:09

The backyard overnighters are great starting points. My oldest and I, also 7, have spent dozens of nights in the backyard. She started off in our massive tent with mom and a queen size blowup mattress when she was 5. Once mom got over her fears, she was allowed to move to her hammock.
I admit I was a little worried how she'd sleep in her hammock as well, especially being more "exposed" than in a tent, but she's slept like a rock everytime now, even much better than the tent.
It amazes me how well she does now either in the woods or in the backyard. Plus it gives us plenty of gear testing opportunities.

**Spiguyver** · 10-02-2016, 17:34

I also need to set up a better area to hang in my backyard. I was using fence posts to hang from, and I really don't want to bring the fence down!

**happydensity** · 10-02-2016, 17:40

my 6 year old sleeps great in the hammock! On a pad at that. Great to be so small

**Spiguyver** · 10-02-2016, 17:43

We used top and under quilts. He said he got hot, so he pulled off the top quilt, then he ended up cold this morning because he couldn't get the top quilt out from under him. Still need some work on him being semi-self reliant in the hammock. We'll get there.