A couple of weeks of hot weather, and the summer holidays on the horizon, means that I shall soon be forced to make a trip to the garden shed to sort out my camping equipment. I camped a lot as a child, wild and free in the countryside around my home, sometimes without even a tent to protect me from the elements (once my sister’s hair froze to the grass in the morning frost).

Despite initial misgivings — too tired, too busy, too daunted to manage it as a single mother — camping has now become a regular feature of mine and my two children’s lives.

Last summer we went 14 times which, when you consider that 2008 was the wettest summer since the Stone Age, I feel I actually earned some sort of medal for bravery and services to the camping industry.

The fact is, children love camping, whatever the weather. I sometimes think that they actually prefer it when it’s a bit muddy and very uncomfortable, as it reminds them that they are light years away from the spelling tests, violin lessons and nightly nit combing that make up normal life.

They’re free, and children love — and need — freedom. Camping gives them a chance to push the boundaries, even if all that involves is learning how to light a fire. Letting them experience a (very mild) level of discomfort also feels so much more honest than broadening their horizons by taking them to stay in a luxury villa-with-pool in Tuscany.

Camping is also fun as it scuppers domestic routine, and forces you to reconnect with your children in a very basic way: out there in a field, there are no glowing screens to hide behind, or walls to separate you.

Sleeping in a tent is unsophisticated, generally uncomfortable and slightly silly, which is perhaps why children love it so much — it allows them to behave like children, and there’s nothing they like more than seeing their parents behaving like children too.

And, despite what you might read, camping doesn’t have to be stylish or expensive, either. It’s the one holiday that’s accessible on virtually any budget, cheap and entertaining in equal measure, and satisfying if you go alone with your family or with a big group of friends (adult company for you around the campfire and plenty of other children to keep your own children busy during the day).

Devotees of glamorous camping, or “glamping”, might suggest that you need your own teepee, a lot of ethnic throws and the near impossible knack of looking good in gold hot pants and Hunter wellies to do camping with style, but this is all nonsense. Nylon sleeping bags will keep you a lot warmer than ethnic throws on a chilly night in the English summer, and only Kate Moss looks good in Hunter wellies, so there’s no point in trying to compete.

All you really need to do camping with style is a lot of enthusiasm, a waterproof tent, a bumper packet of sausages and marshmallows, and a large bottle of whisky.

If you are still feeling resistant to the idea of taking your kids camping, bear in mind that it’s something that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. So this summer, take a deep breath, pack up your tent pegs, and get out there in a field with your kids. Seriously, how bad can one night really be?

Clover Stroud is the co-author of Cool Camping: Kids, Punk Publishing, £14.40 at www.coolcamping.co.uk