Are your family road trips relaxed rides with plenty of breaks? Or do you do car travel like a space capsule, hurtling through vast distances without a stop?
Most of us muddle through, somewhere in between. Here's tips for surviving car travel with kids.
Pace: try to allow enough time for rest stops. Two hours of driving time, then a break, makes a good pattern for car travel with young children. "Rush"is a four-letter word!
Pack: a special backpack or bag for each child, with crayons, books, toys, activity sets, stickers, handheld games-- including some new wrapped surprises for little kids. (But don't give out all the loot at once!)
Print out some simple games to play in the car.
Pint-sized board-games: can be fun. Clue, Sorry, and Trouble are oldies but goodies. And a tray-- or "travel desk" suspended from the back of the front seat-- is handy, for any activity.
Pack: lots of snacks, such as fruit leathers, crackers, juice packs, treats... Also pack: a small cooler, or insulated bag, for cold drinks; plastic cups; bandaids, a dishtowel; frisbee and ball for rest-stops; and baby-wipes no matter how old your kids are.
Play: stories on audiobooks: they make the miles fly by. Play a story for the whole family on the car stereo system. Visit your local library to get stories on CD's (maybe transfer to iPod), or use a download service like Audible.com.
Playrooms: Burger King and MacDonalds have great playrooms on major highways-- a great boon for family car travel. Let the kids burn off energy while you order their food "to go", to eat later in the backseat.
Playgrounds: every school and most parks have them! Little limbs need to shake, rattle, and roll.
Picnics: they're fun; the kids can run around; and you save money, too. Pack your own picnic from home, or buy the fixins' at a deli or grocery store. A big part of happy car travel is getting out of the vehicle.
Potties: it's worth bringing a training pottie, if your child has need-to-go-NOW emergencies.
Pedal-to-the-metal: if you really need to hurtle from point A to B, use a DVD player or laptop, and turn your vehicle into the Cinema on the Highway. Handheld game systems and games on an iPad can work their magic too.
Sleepy Time: kids fall asleep easily in the car, and a snooze can be a great way to let the miles fly by. Just be sure to allow lots of wakie-wakie time. Rousing a child from deep sleep because "we're there now" is tough.
