Camping season is here! Your child's obsession with tents can be satisfied at home too!

This summer, “camping” has become a popular leisure activity for many urban dwellers and a trendy choice for family weekend activities. In outdoor settings like camping or picnicking, while breathing in fresh air and experiencing the natural wilderness, what children might enjoy most is playing freely inside a tent—pulling the curtain closed, they have their own little world with their friends! Where does children's enthusiasm for tents come from? If going out isn't an option or convenient, can you satisfy a child's “love for tents” at home?

Why do so many people love tents?

1. A sense of security within reach

In fact, it's not just children who are captivated by tents—many adults find them irresistible as well. When enjoying outdoor activities, there's nothing more relaxing than lying in a tent you've set up yourself. Upon reflection, this sense of “comfort” is closely tied to a feeling of “security.”

Large spaces often give a sense of openness, while smaller spaces evoke a sense of security. Especially for young children, being in an overly open space may leave them feeling a bit overwhelmed, as they can't find their place; but in a small tent, they can touch the boundaries of the space with their hands, creating a sense of being wrapped up and protected. This preference can be traced back to when the baby was still in the mother's womb, where the entire body was tightly surrounded, and stretching out a hand or kicking a leg would immediately touch the mother's belly. So after birth, we all naturally gravitate toward this feeling of being embraced.

Regarding the enclosed, private nature of tents, American educator David Sobel describes it in his book *Children's Special Places: Exploring the Role of Fortresses, Nests, and Bushhouses in Middle Childhood*: “You can look out, but others cannot see you. This is where you want to be yourself, observing everything without being seen.”

2. The quiet growth of independent consciousness

Within the private and secure world of a tent, a child's body and mind are completely relaxed, yet they remain highly autonomous. When a child has a tent, they often tell others, “This is my territory!” On the surface, this may seem like just a child's game, but in reality, this behavior is akin to a “rehearsal” for leaving their parents and living independently.

The independent space created by the tent is a “home away from home” beyond parental control. Children can build their own ‘kingdom’ here, setting their own rules—in this small world, they decide everything and become “kings” with full control.

“The behavior of children building castles is universal, driven by ‘biological genetic tendencies,’ as children develop ‘self-awareness’ and separate from their parents.” As Sobel discovered in her research, children from different cultural backgrounds all enjoy building tents, and they do so with remarkable consistency. This is driven by our biological instincts. Just as a young eagle practices flying day after day to one day leave its parents and soar into the sky, children are also practicing basic life skills in preparation for one day living independently. Although we no longer need to dig caves or build grass huts like our ancestors did tens of thousands of years ago, this biological instinct to build nests has been passed down through generations.

Therefore, we can view children's behavior of building tents and castles as the process of their self-awareness and sense of independence beginning to take root and grow.