Hanging with a 5 year old...suggestions!

[Marine2000]

In preparation for the Florida hang, I'm trying to visualize how to set everything up for me and my 5 year old son. I want the trip to be memorable for him and most importantly I don't want him to have a negative first experience that turns him off to hanging. He's crawled all over my hammock as he's grown up and watched me clean it out after big trips but he's never slept in one. I'm, some how, picturing that I'll essentially stack our hammocks. Mine on the bottom, as close to the ground as I can get, and him above me.

My questions:

1. Has anyone tried this and how did it work? (Pictures would be awesome)
2. Is there another way you've set your little kids up to hang? (Without buying a double nest or something)
3. If this is somehow a flawed plan, with potential for disaster written on it, please share your thoughts!
4. I have a Kelty down sleeping bag that I was going to let him use. It's an extra long. Is this a safety issue for a little guy and should I just buy him one that fits his body size?

[Gumbo]

If you use the full size kelty bag, make sure you bunch the footbox and tie it off to shorten it. Excess airspace makes for a cold nights sleep. At 5 ft. I have trouble in a full size sleeping bag.

[Marine2000]

Brilliant idea! Never even thought of that

[pgibson]

Each kid will be different. My first trip with my son when he was 5 he wanted to hang on his own, he piked a spot about 10 feet from me and sleep just fine. When we took our daughter for the first time she wanted to be in the hammock with mom but did not want it all closed up and needed to be to the outer edge...she felt a little claustrophobic we think, but she was only about 3 on that trip.

The set up your talking about with him above you is commonly referred to as bunk bed style hanging... you should be able to find a bunch of info on it with a search. It works well and is very popular for parents and kids. You can check on them without getting up, they wake you if they need to leave the hammock for any reason and your able to be close but not squished together in one hammock...usually most of us find that miserably uncomfortable. Like Gumbo said fold over, or cinch down the foot end of the larger sleeping bag so they don't end up lost in the extra space and it will certainly be warmer than the full volume.

[Monkeyboy42]

My kiddo has been hanging with me since last summer. He was 4 1/2 when he started.
He sleeps in my Hennessy clone. I feel more comfortable, because it has an integrated net that keeps him in.

I hang both his hammock and mine side by side from the same trees, and use trek poles to spread them apart. It's a little trickier to set up then the bunk bed, but makes access much easier. Have you seen Dutch's bling for this? We fit under one tarp together.

His zipper is always towards the inside, so that I can get to him easily. Mine usually has to be 6" higher, and we level out when we are both in our hammocks. I also have a DIY 3/4 apex UQ for him, and I made him a 60" long apex top quilt.

When he sleeps he ends up nesting . He'll roll around a bit, and usually ends up curled up in a ball. After the first time I've learned to open the foot of on the TQ, and just use it as a blanket. He will not keep his feet in the box. I wouldn't take a full sized bag for him if I were you. A kids size comforter would work better.

He also is restless enough that I've found him with the UQ kicked out to the side, so that he had no under insulation. This happened in October on a 40degree night. I have no idea how the cold didn't wake him!

I also position his zipper, so that I can reach it when I'm in my hammock. That way I can check on him at night without having to get out completely.

It's great, and he loves it. Good luck!

[Gutyones]

Will your son be comfortable being separated from you at night? A test run in the backyard would be a good idea so you know for sure. I know you said you did not want to buy another hammock but you could take a look at the Vertex from Clark hammocks. It's on the pricey side though.

[Solohammock]

There are pics of the bunk bed style hanging here :
https://www.google.com/search?q=bunk...FbCTjqJbtuM%3A
... I have 2 daughters, 8 and 10, and they like to hang side by side using Dutch's Double Whoopie Hook and a spreader bar, that way the can see and talk to one another. Not that you can't talk doing bunk bed style but they can see each other without leaning over the side every time... Still close enough to use one tarp too.

[Speedogomer]

I recently went on a single overnight hang with my cousin and his son, who's 8 years old.

He did awesome, even though it got down to about 30 degrees. It was his first time in a hammock. Only problem we had is that about 4 am he got cold, and had to climb in his dad's hammock. He slept great though up until then.

I'd just be prepared to have a kid in with you at some point.

One thing that helped my cousin's son, is we had a small oil burning latern hanging from the tree all night. Put out just enough of a glow that it wasn't pitch black. We then set up his tarp in porch mode, so his one side was completely closed off, and his "porch" side was open facing me and his dad. We had 3 hammocks strung from 4 trees, making a little half circle. All that, coupled with a night light with the oil lantern, and he wasn't scared.... and his son is usually very scared of the dark.

[Whiskeyjack]

When we started hanging my daughter was 4. An integrated bug net is essential. We've found a kid flipped upside down a couple of times. I disagree on the full sized sleeping bags. Our younger two are still using full sized ones, including my middle son who came out with me in November in -15C for a hang. I flip the excess portion over top. It closes off the foot and gives another layer of insulation on top of the legs and lower torso depending on their size. We've never hung bunk bed style, we just put the kids heads near ours. They're slowly moving farther away from us as they get older, but my daughter especially wants to be close to mommy at night.

[drlupton]

My son tented solo at 7, so hanging solo at 8 was natural for him. My daughter at 6 has hung solo, but usually prefers to hang side-by-side with my wife if allowed. We use our hiking pole at the head end as Monkeyboy42 described. The sand cup at one end usually keeps the pole from going through 1 continuous loop and I normally wrap the strap to keep the pole in the other continuous loop. We've used sleeping bags without issues for both kids. I've used an egg crate style ccf pad with my daughter in an open hammock and fronkey style net who is a restless sleeper without issue. I've also heard of folks using the non-skid stuff for cabinets to keep other slicker kinds of ccf pads from moving.

All that said, hanging early is a great idea. Mine love it so much they are just about full time hammock sleepers now. I do highly recommend the backyard testing, if you can, and at the very least, an afternoon test set-up, so you're not figuring out on the fly when you arrive. Plus, if you still have questions when you get there, I've never been to a hang where there weren't several people that would be happy to help.

I hope that helps.