We travel…alot.  Our longest trip has been 15 hours long.  Our usual is 13 hours and a 5 hour car ride is like cake to us.  We have to drive frequently to visit family, so it has been something our kids have been doing since they were newborns.  So I thought I might have some advice to share on the matter…because I AM so full of wisdom and all…

I have read many other Mommy ideas on how to travel with kids…and the whole, “Oh you can totally drive on long car rides with your kids and NOT need a DVD player” idea?  NOT buying it!  I highly, highly suggest having as many electronic-mind-numbing devices as possible.  DVD players and TVs (multiple screens suggested), video game systems, handheld game systems, plug-n-play games…you catch my drift.  Plug them and shut them up…that’s my car driving philosophy! 

Ok, ok, I’m not a total electronic freak, they do get tired of that stuff after, oh, 8 or so hours.  So I always be sure to check out a few new books at the library, as well as read along cds.  The boys love listening to the stories and I love how it makes them fall asleep!  (Which reminds me, we always pack special travel pillows and blankets!)  I also always buy each of them a new coloring book with a new box of crayons…and they love that!

Speaking of NEW things…you can also buy a couple of small new toys, dvds or travel games and hide them under your seat.  So when they do start going all ape crazy on you…pull out something new and they will be distracted for awhile!

FOOD…don’t leave home without it!  I like to pack lots of snacks for my always-starving-boys.  And I don’t bring the regular old stuff, either.  I make “special” traveling trail mix which is basically cheerios, raisins, nuts and m&ms…add candy to anything and they think it’s a real treat!  I’ll also buy some pre-packaged snack bags which they get a real kick out of because I never buy that kind of snacks for every day.  Are you seeing the trend…make everything special and turn the car ride into part of the vacation!

OK, last bit of advice.  Here’s what we do for meals while traveling…  We don’t eat much fast food on a regular basis, and when we do, we don’t get kid’s meals every time.   My kids get SO excited about stopping for kid’s meals.  (Yes, they are very deprived easily pleased children.)  We’ll make sure to stop at a fast food joint with a play land.  While one of us orders the food, the other takes the kids to the bathroom and then to the play land to run off their energy.  We give them a good 15 minutes and keep them moving the whole time!  Then we get back in the van and eat our meals as we drive.  This gives the kids nothing better to do than eat their food and then they play with their new toy that came in the kids meal…this kills like an hour!!  If there is no play place, find a grassy area and just let them run wild, race each other, stretch.  In fact, at bathroom breaks, everyone has to do 15 jumping-jacks before they are allowed back in our van!  And if your kids are used to getting kids meals often and it’s not thrilling to them…take a break from them for a couple of months before your trip, by the time you go they’ll be excited about them again!

One last thing you must not forget to pack for your travels…a sense of humor.  Oh, and benadryl.

Tasha

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 5:02 am and is filed under Tasha Goes Blue!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.