Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

What would summer be without a camping trip? That’s what I’ve been trying to tell my 10-year-old as we prepare for a weekend camp out. I tell him it will be great; he can eat s’mores, sing campfire songs, pee on a tree.

But he isn’t looking forward to it. He complains that there will be bugs. He’s afraid of snakes.
He hasn’t really liked camping for some time now, and since he was stung by a bee a couple weeks ago, he’s affection for nature has plummeted to an all-time low.

Still, I try to rally him with the idea of shooting BB guns. “You like shooting in the video games? Well, we will be REAL soldiers,” I say.

“I want to play soldier, not BE one,” he answers.

“Canoeing will be fun,” I say. “We’ll be just like the Indians.”

“I don’t want to be an Indian,” he tells me.

“You like s’mores,” I remind him.

He can’t argue with that.

So we’re setting off -- armed with mosquito netting and lots of bug spray.

Hopefully, we won’t see any snakes.