My son is 20 now and after a long dry spell is now going with us again.  Once my son was driving and had a girlfriend he had no time for us and rather than force the issue we left him behind and learned to enjoy the time alone.  We did get lucky a few times and let him bring the gf but it turns out she was not a camper.  His new gf is a camper so I expect to see a lot more of him

We never had a problem with our son but DD quit at 16.  We let her stay home with her sister who is 8 yrs older than her.  Our son and his friend kept going and when they got gf's they came along. 

Our boys, 19 & 15, have been camping since they were in utero.  It has always been a constant part of our lives be it tent, popup, or hybrid, so they have never asked to stay home or not go. However, as they have gotten older, I make sure not to schedule any trips which coincide w/ an important sport event or activity. I also allow both of them to bring ipods or handheld games, sleep as late as they please, & permit them to spend as much time as they want in the trailer instead of being outside w/ Mom & Dad. Last yr, the younger spent almost all of his time inside listerning to music. This yr, on 3/4 trips, much to my surprise he wasn't listening to music.... but doing homework & a bio project that he had brought along!

And yes, even though they are mostly grown, I still keep certain family favorite  board & card games only in the trailer. I can pull any one of them out, & next thing you know, we're all sitting at the table laughing, chatting, & playing a game....just like we've done through the years.  Priceless.

I also ask for their input in planning the menu & choosing meals. Having some special surprise snacks, apart from the usual at home, helps keep everyone smiling, too. Let's face it. Teens like to eat  ::)

I guess I'm lucky.  My "new" DS is very into anything we do as a family.  For that I am truly blessed.

We just wrapped up a nearly two week run through WA, OR and CA camping outside of Sequoia NP with the express purpose of meeting up with about 30 other vintage Apache pop up owners.

After that we headed north through NV, staying in Carson City for 2 days, OR, ID, back to OR and WA.

All told, we were 50 miles shy of 2500 miles ... and he rode in a mini "jump" seat behind me in my Ford Ranger.  For a 14 yr old who's as tall as I (5'9"), he was a heckuva trooper and I'm proud of that boy.

We're looking forward to our next trip out on the Olympic Peninsula in a couple weeks.

Best of luck; hope it works out well for you!

Late posting here apologies. I have a 15yr old Son (Aspergers) and this is often the case. My son would rather be home on his computer so I try to find something going on within the park or surrounding area to make it interesting for him. Turns out on our third time out with our Boomer, he's managed to find some things interesting.

First trip in our new used Boomer: he doesn't like the beach, DH LOVES the beach and so does my 9yr old daughter. My son had a terrible experience while camping in Sebastian FL, as we were in tents then. Sand fleas, sun burn that led him to the ER during our stay (Wonderful experience for us allot!) However he loved fishing from the pier with his dad (Step father). I felt so sorry for him during this miserably defined trip.
In the Boomer, our first trip was where? Back to the beach! I guess hating is such a strong word, he like's the area but just doesn't like hanging on beach due to such horrible sunburn experiences in his past. We (son and I) sunburn through a T-SHirt and the lotion. This trip we went shopping, we found a shop that had a groovy VW Van out front that he admired (he wants one). Feeding him (I always ask ahead what to bring) and allowing him to take his Nexxus and cross fingers there is Wi-Fi. He kicks back in the Boomer in down time he is OK. I also like to get him to write, we keep a journal and I always record the day's events and ideas for trips. My son is  a great writer and enjoys it.  :reader: I try to involve him as much as possible but if he doesn't want to do something, I allow him to choose.

Second trip in Boomer: asked and planned what they wanted to eat. This helps and staying closer to home on those weekend trip helps and also allows us to invite friends out as we celebrated a special planned dinner for the friends bday. This camp site happened to have a bird of prey show going on and free. This was interesting and is why I now look at activities planned within the park and plan around this to be able to attend to make things a bit more appealing to both kids. My kids have a large age gap so this is hard! This particular trip we decided to take bikes, since our boomer is new to us we yet have bike racks. My DH strapped on the bike's on top of the Pup although my son isn't much of a biker, we took his along anyway just to give him more options of things to do as the park had grand bike trails we knew our daughter would love and hopefully big brother would tag along for protection. 🙂 Well, riding a walking trail wasn't the best plan my son had. He was on the wrong trail for bikes and fell injuring himself slightly. He was headed towards the "wi-fi" area. Geezz...lol. Nevertheless, he still enjoyed although he may say otherwise, he doesn't admit his enjoyment in fear of we will go again...and we will! 🙂 We actually invited a favorite friend of his but he couldn't make it.

I just try very hard to please them all and if that don't work, sorry. Perhaps they can come up with their own entertainment and feel free to brainstorm and pack it! Think outside the box!

Third Trip: Our latest adventure was this past weekend. A Scottish Festival was at a local Park in our area, that I never been to and I didn't realize they had camp sites! What a convenient quaint little park it was! My son, Mr. Wannabe Linguist is always up for an cultural experience! Our friends joined us at our camp after touring the festival with us and then dinner.  We met neighboring campers and sat at their fire chatting. We were meant to be here in spite of my daughter getting sick, my son met and chatted up a new found friend. Understand, having Autism in it's highest form is indeed a milestone as he's not the social butterfly. The new friend also had Aspergers and it was a delight to see these two talk about their unique talents together. So intelligent beyond their years. 

What I want to try? Getting the kids involved with DO cooking. I think it's a great way to get them involved by finding a way to cook on an tri-pod. What will we use for tri pod, build our own? What will we cook? They will be involved in hunting and gathering all things needed. I will allow them to stir, check and add ingredients and ask their opinions. I'm creating a block fire pit to the backyard to experiment prior to adding this to our camping adventures in the Boomer.
Always looking for a good healthy adventure...Post on!

@FireCaptainJim - thanks for the compliment. Im not a pro yet but.....
@ Boomerang - If you dont know how to cook in a DO, our families should met up and we shall have a lesson or two. I have a fire pit and a tripod that I build to cook on/with.

I would like that ! I think they would get along great! Maybe one day soon.