You're excited about your upcoming vacation, but you're also a little worried. You know you'll be in the car for a long time on your way there - and you have small children. Small children in the car for long periods of time can quickly turn what should be an exciting start (or calming end) to your vacation into a nightmare. I've made thousand mile car trips with my three young children, then four young children many times. Here are my favorite tips:
Boxes. Boxes are your friend. I actually got this idea from another veteran road trip mom. Get a lot of boxes together. Shoe boxes will work, or shoe box size plastic bins. These are going to be your lifesaver.
Baby Bed Safety Rail
Take one box per child and fill it full of little goodies for them. When I say "goodies," I mean small toys, pads of paper, markers (crayons if you don't trust them - or get the markers that only write on special paper), and other assorted books and treasures. This will be each child's main box. You can also use a backpack for each child for this purpose.
Then take a few other boxes and fill them with things. You can use assorted toys or you can make each box a theme, such as cars or paper dolls.
It's a good idea to stock toys up year-round for this. If you get little toys from family or friends, or as hand-me-down toys, you can put them aside. Sometimes you won't want your child playing with a toy all the time, or you don't want yet another little toy cluttering up your house. But the toy is perfect for this once or twice a year travel event.
These "extra" boxes will be stowed away in the car somewhere you can get to them easily. When you're far into your trip and everyone's patience is wearing thin, these boxes can come out and buy you a little more peace.
Practice. You need to practice with your children weeks before you go on the trip. Many children are used to babbling on and on in the car. You need to teach them that when you say be quiet, they should be quiet. There will be times on the road you need to concentrate completely and you need children to be quiet. My phrase is "Mama needs to drive now, be quiet." My kids learned that they need to listen and obey me when I say this. I always make sure to tell them "OK, you can talk now" when it's OK to talk again.
Stop frequently. Even though as adults we might push through three, four, or even more hours of drive time at once, this does not work for children. Plan at least a short stop every two hours. Let your little ones go to the bathroom and stretch their legs. Eat a meal, or serve a small snack if it's not mealtime. If you have a baby, this is a good schedule to follow with nursing that will help baby stay content and full. If you'll be stopping at rest stops you can have a kickball and Frisbee in the car for them to bring out and run and play with.
Books and books on tape. If you're not the lone adult, you can read or have another traveler read out loud to the kids. When your voice gives out, or if you're the only adult, bring along several books on tape or CD. These can buy a lot of time and are especially good as the day wears on and you want children to wind down for nap time or bed time.
Long car trips are never the best part of the trip, but with a little preparation and some sensible guidelines, even small children can do well and you can have a pleasant trip. Enjoy when you arrive... and enjoy getting back to home sweet home!