Kids and starparties...??

[Celeste]

Hi all,

I am interested in going to a starparty (Kelling next week) BUT.....I will have to bring along my 3 kids with me, my DD is 13 and she is ok, my DS is 10 and he's the one astro mad! Now it's my 7yo DS that i'm wondering about. Does anyone take kids along? How do you keep them occupied when it's night? I don't want my 7yo running around for obvious reasons....My 10yo son is really wanting to go....badly! Any other kids going?

[Beyond_Vision]

I have taken my son to Kelling since a small baby and he's now 5. The difficult thing is trying to keep kids quiet in the mornings. If it is a clear night then people will be up all night and will sleep in late in the morning. The general request is that people are quiet in the morning so as not to disturb people.

It's probably more difficult when you have siblings competing for attention. Hopefully if they are up late enjoying the stars they will sleep in too.

There is plenty of things to do at Kelling and surrounding areas during the day so there should be lot's of opportunity for them to let off steam.

The obvious no no's are things like ball games or running across pitches but most folks will be more than welcome to show children views through there scopes etc.

Have a nice time

Regards

Kevin

[Celeste]

My big concern is at night, being how dark it is, my youngest running into something *expensive* My kids are generally night owls like me anyway, and would love to stay up late (any excuse!) and are late risers...mostly. I seem to have got this idea that some at Kelling are *very serious* and frown upon kids being there....I understand that, I don't want to upset anyone or become an 'outcast' as such....know what I mean?

I would love to go to learn more about imaging, I bought a starlight express camera and haven't had it out to try yet!

What sizes are the pitches at Kelling? My tent is a big one, 8.6x8.5 mtrs...will it fit?

[Doc]

The pitches are pretty large and your tent would fit I'm sure as for children, a few of us are taking ours, I'm taking my son whose nearly 11 years old.

The only thing is don't let them run around at night as there will be lots of wires and equipment to trip over.

I'm sure you will be fine.