Car Travel with Young Children
(Our first car voyage with three! Before we took out the 8th seat and converted to captain's chairs in the second row with Eloise in the third row.)
A family member reached out recently to ask for car entertainment suggestions for a long car ride she's taking with her two young children this summer, which got me thinking about what our plan will be for our own upcoming summer trip. For some trips I've gone whole hog, and others I've done the bare minimum.
What I've found is that the number of activities we bring is usually directly proportional to my level of anxiety about that trip, and not at all related to the outcome of the car behavior. So less is more because until they're a certain age, the non-driving parent (usually me) is responsible for distributing / helping with / managing all this stuff and that's its own kind of pain.
Our likely car companions this summer:
Boogie Boards (find a way to attach the stylus or you'll be reaching back one million times to find it)
snacks—I'm usually pretty healthy with our daily snacks, but long car rides are when I peruse the grocery store for novel treats that will hold their attention longer.
music—Raffi, Elizabeth Mitchell, etc.
TV shows/movies on the tablet (our kids don't use our ancient Kindle in their day to day, so it's extra special on car rides)
stickers
mess-free coloring (Water Wows and the Aquadoodle were great when the girls were younger and now the Magicolor and Color Blasts can hold their attention for long periods of time)
I also just ordered some Paint by Sticker books and Simply Needlepoint kits for the girls because Eloise is currently on day four of a fever, and if it spreads to the other kiddos, I'm anticipating being mostly housebound for at least the next week. These seem like they could translate well to car travel.
Any tips for surviving car rides with young kids? Our girls are at decent ages for travel now, but George starts to cry even for around-town trips (we're talking, two minutes).
And if anyone can let me know how to teach kids to sleep in the car that would be great because mine do not. Years later and I'm still scarred by a 12-hour vacation in which zero young children slept for zero minutes. Torture!
I'd love to hear your tips!
