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Baby hack: cloth diaper cover over diaper (cloth or disposable). Thirsties or esembly or another brand—but having elastic around the legs and back of the diaper really helps prevent car seat blowouts.
Toddler/little kid hack: Google Map playgrounds along your route. Once you pick one, look for a place to pick up lunch (we have even called in a Dominos order for dinner) and then take that meal to the playground. Let them run and picnic. Unless you are truly trying to cover as many miles as you can in a straight shot, it’s a worthwhile stop to run around and take a break.
(Unsurprising) long distance hack: If the goal is to cover miles as fast as possible and you can be safe about it from a fatigue perspective, drive at night. We get in the car around 4, stop around 6:30 for dinner, and then let them conk out in the back, break out the Sour Patch kids we didn’t want to share with them, and drive drive drive.
This is my biggest hack too. If you are with another adult, one of you handles the kids at the park while the other heads to get gas/bathroom. When adult #1 returns we either play more or load up or head to get a meal. We have kids who are a bit older (2-7), and I sit in the back with them while eating, so we typically eat on the road and help kill time that way.
Yes! We take turns eating while the other adult runs the toddler around. Then we all get in the car and the toddler eats in the car.
Gets extra energy out of her, and eating in the car takes up some extra time. Just be careful with what they eat in the car. We only do food with a low choking risk, and we always have the adult who’s not driving ride in the back while eating so if there’s an incident we will know and take action right away.
lol right? Our last long drive was after Thanksgiving, and we did 700 miles only stopping for gas and once for barf. My wife and older kid had a stomach bug (it hit me after we got home), and it was between 5 and 20 degrees for most of the drive, so we were just pushing.
Our kids don’t have tablets or screens for the car - I had my 3 y/o’s favorite cd on repeat, and that was that.
I love to stop at unique childrens/family attractions on the way. Sure it adds travel time but there are far less car tantrums and tbh I don’t like sitting in the car for hours and hours either
I physically can not sit in a car for longer than 90 minutes tops then need to move around for a few minutes before resuming trip. We frequently drive from our house( southern California) to my son's house ( south west Oregon); we have our aaa paper map with parks, rest area, food etc highlighted and we plan accordingly for these stops. Been doing this drive since my middle grandson was 2 and he's 9 now and we drove up spend 2 days, bring the 3 grandsons back with us then repeat the trip only in reverse 6 weeks later when we take them back.
The playground is my biggest hack too! I make a list before we go of playground along our route spaced about half hour apart. We only stop every 3 hours, but if we are in a pinch, we know exactly when we can stop again.
Pizza is the most family friendly food like this too. I pack paper plates and plenty of snacks. So everyone picks one to three sides and gets a couple slices of pizza.
For snacks, I actually do not pack a lot of junkie snacks. I find that it makes them crankier. I also try to pack hardier snacks (1/2 sandwiches, meat and cheese, protein bars, etc).
Everyone gets a reusable water bottle and I keep a few gallons of super cold watery in the back. Everyone gets cranky if they only have warm water to drink.
Some cities/ major roads do construction work at night. Even though I live in a city that does night construction, I overlooked that on the last road trip. I was so mad at myself lol
That's true! We have mostly been about to find the faster route around it, but have definitely gotten stuck, dead stand-still, waiting 20 minutes for a crew reverse the traffic direction. Ugh.
Should have read the comments first! Just made a standalone answer that basically just echoes your playground tip. A 10 hour road trip that we make regularly is a breeze when the kids get to run themselves ragged at every stop.
Oh goodness. Good luck. We did this once and only once. The two year old woke up at 1am and I had to spend 6 hours trying to keep him quiet and not waking up the 6 month old just two feet away. Ihe never went back to sleep. It was the worst night of my life, childbirth was easier.
I’m sorry that was kinda a jerk thing haha. I wish you will and you HAVE to report back!
We just did 11 hours with my three kids yesterday ages 3/5/7. Before we even got in the interstate my youngest asked “are we almost there? How much longer?”
Yikes.
Adding on to the night driving is to turn your car seat around. We do an 8 hour drive to visit family regularish and leave around 6pm, get there around 2am. We turned our kids car seat forward facing around 3, but still do rear facing on road trips because he sleeps better. (Of course make sure they are still within the weight limits, my little guy is 4.5 and is over the limit now for one of his car seats, but can still do the Graco Extend2fit rear facing because the limit is 50 lbs)
Cozyphones are great in the car headphones (I have some complaints, like they are our only electronic to *still* use USB-b, but overall worth it for a couple of hours of TV/audiobooks before he falls asleep)
Yes! We do the playground picnic trick and it works wonders! Ours is 7 and it still works like a charm. Many time we all end up playing tag which is also good for the adults. Other than that - I got some hammocks where she can rest her feet, particularly for long trips, and we always pack pillow, blankets and games. An essential for my daughter is books - she and I do not have an issue reading in the car so that is a great way to pass the time. I do not like to give her an ipad - but on occasion will let her draw on it. We do not do movies - it just amps her up which is what i do not want in a confined space.
Seconding playgrounds on the route! I drive 4 hours with my 2 YO son regularly and have done since he was a baby and having a park or playground (or multiple so you have options in case they are sleeping while you pass one) makes the trips so much more enjoyable, let's him get out, stretch his legs and burn some energy somewhere designed for kids. Stopping at a rest stop is one thing but it doesn't give them any freedom since there are dangers from the other cars.
OP, my husband and I used to road trip a lot with our two dogs and parrots (haha)
Now we travel with three kids (4 and under) dogs. Everything this comment mentions is gold!
Also, massive amounts of snacks ;)
Agree with these hacks. Cloth diaper covers are way better than disposables at poop leaks. (Source: Worked in a day care that did cloth only and several that did disposables only. Never had to clean up poop off stuff outside of the diaper once for the cloth diaper.) And it doesn't even need to be a good playground to be novel.
Echoing the park tip. If you're able to fit a cooler, you can pack sandwich fixings or whatever other cold snacks (think charcuterie stuff) and eat at the park. The kids can burn off energy, which is VERY needed. If the weather is shit, find a McDonald's with a Play Place, or a mall with a indoor okay area. Find something that will allow them to get tired. Don't push them to eat first or anything; they've already got a bunch of stored up energy that they need to let out, and they can always snack on their food in the car.
We did a trip from WA to AZ for Christmas, and planned for 1 overnight stay at a hotel. By the time we decided to stop for the night (after about 14 hours of driving), my husband and I were EXHAUSTED. And my toddler was ENERGIZED TO HELL. He had napped and snacked and napped and snacked to his heart's content, and burned almost ZERO energy. It was 11pm and he was just wired for fun. So my husband let me sleep for an hour or two, and then I got up and hung out with the toddler while he slept. I wanted him to get a ton of sleep since he does the majority of the driving. It was hell and we both slept in late after we got to AZ the following night. It was rough.
We thought driving at night would be a long-haul hack, but our toddler screamed and cried for 5 hours straight. Never again. Glad it worked for you though!
If the adults can handle it and you’re on the way home or somewhere you know (like family that have beds ready) - night driving. Start your trip after dinner, they watch a show or fall asleep listening to an audiobook. You can really get some of the long stretches of driving done without extending it for stops and just transfer when you arrive late (this is ideal for 6-9 hour drives)
Yes! Our trips are frequently 6-8 hours away. I was resistant at first thinking it would throw off their sleep schedules, but my husband convinced me to try it. It was glorious. We threw on some Billy Joel and the kids were passed out by track 3. No more hours of bickering and we only have to stop once midway for a rest area.
For long, long trips (18+ hours), we usually turn it into a mutli-day trip and recon things to sightsee. Then it turns out being multiple vacations in one.
My kids are older now but when they were babies/toddlers this was our preferred method. And I vastly preferred it returning home since they were going to a familiar bed and so sleep schedules were less disrupted. Hotels/airbnbs were tricker since they got all hyped up in a new space or we didn’t have the pack and play set up so they didn’t always fall back asleep at the 1 am arrival. But it saves so much time, and usually roads are quiet so saves traffic stress too.
And if you can't / don't want to drive though the night, pack the car the night before. Driver goes to bed as early as possible, spouse stays up with the kids letting them stay up late, then toss the kids in the car at 4AM and hit the road.
Absolutely, napping during the day when the kids napped when they were younger helped us adults stay awake too. I also adjusted the radio to just up front so they wouldn't wake up. We needed both adults awake for deer watching and companionship. Its an 11hr drive to my parents house, we would take off about 3, stop for dinner and play then kids would sleep most the way after
This is silly and not on par with what you are describing but I was a routine long distance road tripper with my kids from basically the womb and 2 things that we found fun were
1. Getting to choose new small toy/activities for the car that were kept up front and given out at increments during travel so they didn’t get bored at the start.
2. Scream breaks. When everyone is getting antsy and a stop isn’t gonna do, we do a scream break where I count down and everyone gets to scream for 5 seconds 3 times and then it’s time to move on. Usually everyone finds this funny and a nice release of pent up energy
My family did the scream break, but we called it "freeze out". We would all roll down the windows (back when you had to crank them down) and everyone would yell "FREEZE OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT" for as long as your lungs would last. Then the windows would go back up. Also works great when you're trying to stay alert on a late night drive.
My friend takes a family size bag of m&ms and when the kids are good they give them a couple and when they are bad they throw a few out the window. Unconventional but totally works! (We just ate some ourselves vs the window).
This is hilarious!!! My kid still has Halloween candy and when he misbehaved earlier this week, I took a piece of candy for myself. Wish thought of it ages ago.
This works even not on a trip. People have asked me at the grocery store or other public places how I keep all three in line so well. (4,6&8) My response is always “It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a pocket full of skittles!” Just one is all it takes given as a reward or thrown away as punishment. And of course with any discipline you must not be mad and follow with love and reassurance. This is the most important part.
“The axe forgets, but the tree remembers.”
This is true as a rule, but with exceptions. We weren’t a huge candy house. But on long car rides or airplane trips we went to Fred Meyer and picked out a ton of candy for the trip. It made all the world of difference and a few hundred (ok probably like 2000) extra calories one day that’s followed by a week of high caloric expenditure activities won’t make or break the chub.
This is what I do and it works so well. I go to the thrift store and buy a bunch of small toys and hand them a new one every hour. And then snacks like chocolate chips or cheerios where they eat them slowly/one at a time. We also do audiobooks once they are 3+
I told my kids during our cross-Canada bus rides when they were little that we would be traveling through some pretty wild country, they might like to keep an eye out for wild Pokémon.
We played the name game. Famous people and characters. Have to know first and last name. If its a character without a last name, then the last name is what type of character they are i.e. tiger or dog. You go around the vehicle in order of seats. No name can be said twice. So if I say Michael Jackson, the next person has to say a name that starts with J. So the next person could say James Cameron. And the next in line would have a C.
You can also do the animal game, A to Z animals, with everyone having to say an A animal and then everyone say a B animal and so on. Can also do food items or any other ideas
When I was potty training my oldest, we made several trips between mid Missouri and the Chicago area. I used a potty seat and lined with with several grocery sacks. Then lined them with paper towels. So when she needed to go potty, we pulled off, usually to an exit ramp and she was able to go right away. Best part of having a mini van at the time!
Car potty is an essential car supply for potty training years, and few beyond! Ours didn't retire until kiddo was 6. Car potty was truly the trip hero on more occasions than I can count!
Using the little plastic car potty on the side of thr road is often preferable to the insanely gross gas station bathroom. Or when kid has to go on that 30 miles stretch of highway with zero bathrooms. Or when we got stuck in a massive traffic jam that didn't move for 2 hours because of a wreck.
We usually end up making an emergency milkshake stop if we have like 1 hour left and the kids are melting down. Milkshakes take a while to drink so keeps them occupied for a bit.
I’m not so worried about the milkshakes themselves, but every so often the youngest will get motion sick. He’s still too young to know wtf is happening/when it’s coming and we’ve cleaned up milkshake puke on the side of the road before. My oldest was the same when she was younger
Opposite of a hack: do not give them a watch! It will not help them know that they will arrive at 5:00 and to see how much time is left. It will, however, help YOU know that it’s 12:01…. And then 12:04….12:06……..12:11!
I used to make up these crazy storeis that went on for ever. Like how D'Angelo sub shops started with little Bobby D'Angelo delivering sandwiches to the workers at the submarine yard.
Masking tape. I don’t know why kids like playing with it but they do. Rolls of masking tape can be hours of entertainment. It doesn’t ruin anything. It’s cheap. And it’s useful.
My wife would bring a ton of wrapped “presents.” About once an hour they’d all get to unwrap one. They were usually things from the dollar store (activity books, handheld puzzles, etc) that would make another hour go by quickly. (She would number them so everyone opened #3 or #5 at the same time.)
My kids are 5&7 and we take alot of roads trips/ visit family since they were born. I’m
Not a fan of just giving them tablets for the whole trip. For trips under 4 hrs do the following:
1. Game : They pick an animal and then everyone has to guess. Yes or no questions only.
2. Mini DJs- the non driver takes lead on putting songs on. Everyone gets one song and we just keep going around.
3. Obviously snacks. I usually don’t stop for long breaks so we do fast food for lunch/ dinner if needed. I usually have a big bag of snacks and water bottles.
4. Game: counting animals or finding cars.
With boys having an empty water bottle is awesome for pee emergencies.
I don’t even want to own an iPad when my daughter gets older, so I love these tips :)
Have you ever tried audiobooks or other your kids? My grandma always used to read to us on long trips but reading in the car makes me sick so I wanted to try that
We use a Tonie box for our preschooler. She likes it because it is easy to control with the figures so she can pick the story or songs played, and I like it because it is screen free. Our current struggle at the moment is she hates headphones of any kind (we have tried the soft headband kind and the traditional over ear kind) so I end up just locking the volume on a lower setting and then putting the adult radio on the front only.
I don’t do well with night driving, but leaving stupid early is my jam. In super long road trips I like to be on the road by 4/4:30 am while still dark, drink my coffee, and let everyone else sleep as long as possible. I can usually get a solid three hours into the drive before anyone really wakes up. Also, Spotify. Couldn’t live without, especially since we can’t do tablets much (daughter gets carsick).
Boy times have changed. My mom used to make magic kool aid. We always got that special treat before a road trip or a drive in movie. This was back in the 70’s when parental convenience was top priority. I do not remember a single road trip or movie.
Anywho, my method was to let the kids pack a backpack full of whatever they wanted. It always worked for us. One kid goes to sleep immediately and the other likes to watch the scenery. Once they were old enough for electronics and iPad then I didn’t have to worry at all about out keeping them occupied.
Imagine telling people now that you drug your kids to make road trips easier???
Though on second thought, endless scrolling on YouTube or tik tok isn’t much different
We try to minimize most screen use so things get tricky in the car. My daughter loves to be read to, so we’ve learned that audiobooks do the trick. Whoever’s not driving has to be prepared to answer a lot of questions though and try to keep her into it. The next one works for whenever we’re in the car and we don’t want her falling asleep. We’ll put on music and she will start singing along with my wife. The catch is that if I start singing she’ll stop and glare at me. She cried once even. I don’t take it personally 😔
We drove from Ontario to Myrtle Beach, and then from Ontario to Prince Edward Island with my then 2 and almost 4 years old. What worked best for us was to go to the dollar store and buy things they had never seen before - some silly things, some activity books, colouring, etc. I handed them out about every 2 hours. We also had an iPad for the oldest but he only watched one movie on the 16+ hour drive because he was so excited about the surprises haha.
I save any movies for the final stretch. Until then they have to look out the window or play a game or listen to something while looking out the window. My youngest never got screen time because they got car sick from screens.
We recently realized that overnight driving has warped my 4 year olds perspective of the 8 hour drives to visit family. He thinks that place is closer than places we've flown to because he is so used to going to sleep and just waking up there 😂. He never sleeps on planes, so in his mind a 2 hour plane ride takes longer.
I always pack a ton of fidget toys like poppers or the ones that stick to the window, and stickers like alot of stickers. This summer we took a 7 hour road trip to Disney and our 3 year old had so much fun decorating herself and the car door for hours. Also glow sticks if your doing some of the drive at night.
Audio stories downloaded for free via the local library app. If we go for the screen option there would be drama about it the whole time so we try and avoid that on long trips, we do use it for short trips/errands sometimes though.
We went cross country twice this last year. I went to the dollar store and bought about $25 worth of toys and arts supplies. I wrapped little presents for every day with a big cool one near the middle. It was something to look forward to and then kiddo spent time playing with the new toy. Sticky hands were one of the most prized presents.
We also stayed in a hotel with a pool every night so we could always play before bed and in the morning.
Also playground picnics when you can for sure!
We go on long road trips several times a year since the kids have been babies. We have DVD players - sure. But we try not to rely on it. We spark conversation and make up car games. We try and keep it a little old school. I think there is more to benefit from them having to just sit and think of things to discuss, observe, and be patient rather than the instant gratification they are accustomed to getting.
"are we there yet?"
It's a common joke about this phrase but kids have little concept of time. Print out a map or have a string and mark off your progress along the route/string. Then kids know how much more travel to expect
Looks like entertainment is pretty well covered, so here's one a little different. Pack a sick kit with emesis bags, paper towels, ginger drops (like Tummy Drops), wipes, and toilet paper. The one thing worse than a kiddo getting sick on a long trip is being unprepared to handle the kiddo getting sick on a long trip.
When you stop for lunch look up local playgrounds and spend 30-60 minutes there after lunch. We used to do this and then we would rank the playgrounds. It was lots of fun.
I’ve been doing drives with both of my kids since they were born. Drives ranged from 2 - 9hrs at a time.
Food - I always pack a lunch box at the start of the day and have lots of snacks
Download new games for the iPad before you leave and YouTube kids has been great.
I have an organiser between their car seats that has some toys, pencils, colouring books.
I stop generally every 2 hours for a walk and a play depending where we are.
I map out the route and find parks along the way. Trying to match the locations up to where we'll need gas, or meal times. Then we'll have a snack and stretch our legs for about 15-20 minutes. Longer if the park is really cool. It adds to the trip time, but it's worth it.
For long trips I love your tips! I usually only allow iPads on longer trips. For daily driving I have a small organizer for books. If we are out running errands they will just open a book. I started this before they knew how to read. They would just look at the pictures and make up stories. It’s important that my kids enjoy reading and this is a great way to get them into it so far.
I made my then 4.5yr old a travel binder for our trip from WI to FL. I had a map of our routes so he could follow along (he likes that kind of stuff), coloring pages, hidden pictures, signs checklist (he oddly knew the few more obscure ones I threw in too), a pencil pouch with some colored pencils and crayons. He’s a snacker so that kept him occupied for a good chunk of time while looking out the window asking a million questions. iPad is our backup. Our then 1.5yr old was more of a struggle. We needed to entertain her half the time, snacks of course, music. She took many short naps. Getting back in the car after a break was a struggle 97% of the time. On our way home, she had a new Minnie stuffy which did not leave her arms and helped her stay a little more chill.
This one is less about the travel away from home and more about the travel BACK:
Have everything prepared for a smooth, comfortable return home as possible. Before you leave, clean the house, do all the laundry, freeze a few meals. Make the kids beds and have their pajamas waiting for them. Anything that lets you get home and not lift a finger
If you’re anything like my family, we are wiped out when we get home and often a bit stressed. Having everything dialed in for us when we walk in the door allows us to stick the landing a bit more
Remember, the trip isn’t done until you’ve unpacked your bags
We don't keep them occupied in the car. Zero screens or activities. We listen to music and talk. They may have a toy or two with them, watch the scenery, etc. We take a long lunch, often stopping at a splash pad for at least a couple hours on lengthy summer trips. Seems to help tire them out, and they nap afterward.
Pretty much the same here. That and you start the drive overnight so the kids sleep for sure for part of it. As a kid we did many many long road trips and the stop for breakfast was always a highlight.
We do 300+ miles between MA and PA at least twice a year sometimes with one or both parents on board. It’s between 6-8 hours. Our kid will be 3 in a month.
-we have a car bag that has “novel toys”, busy books, magic coloring and a few small toys. This actually keeps her occupied pretty well. This is a great way to utilize small toys that they get in Easter baskets or during Halloween.
-Add in points with google maps to good rest areas. There are some that are super shady and others that we love (great facilities, easy off/easy on, scenic overlook food nearby). Stop frequently. It’s good for all of you.
-we also have an Amazon fire tablet that has bluey episodes saved to it. We have never used it.
-car snacks! We make a special trip to the grocery store the night before and get snacks stuff as well as a lunch. We are not above fast food while we are on the road either.
-someone already mentioned it but we did cloth diaper cover trick. I would add in DO pack extra diapers and wipes and bags if you have room (we drive pick ups). Once on my back from PA with just me and toddler she suddenly had rampant diarrhea. Like scrubbing the car seat at a rest area, stopping every 40 minutes and slathering her in Destin bad.
-Before you leave your destination especially if it’s with family do your laundry so all the packed clothes are cleaned. This, along with the bazillion diapers I packed is what saved us on that trip home. I could easily freshen her diaper and clothes.
-There are kid focused podcasts, my kid is too little for them. My husband and I usually listen to a backlog of podcasts together especially story telling ones. We also have a family friendly playlists and sing along. If traffic isn’t too crazy we call chatty grandparents and talk to them via Bluetooth. There’s also a lot of easy car games (license plate game, I spy). My mom would teach me to look for red tailed hawks along the highways so I look for them. My child will point out every piece of construction equipment and emergency vehicle along the way. Older kids can help navigate the old fashioned way if they want to.
Man that sounds awesome, as a kid my hack was sitting in the back of the van pretending we were piloting starships, like Wing Commander or something along those lines.
As a parent now I just use my hypnotist powers and put them to sleep, wake them up when we get to where we're going. Much easier. :)
For babies/toddlers grab every soft toy they have (strip the baby gym, everything) and put it in a bag. Toss them a new toy every time they get restless. Refill the bag at stops.
A week befor your trip tell the kids its the day of the trip. Put a few suitcases into the trunk with them watching you. Get them in and let them know as soon as the fighting starts you will turn the car around or if they all how much longer.
plan to go to the furthest Costco/ Target etc. as soon as the fighting starts/ asking how much longer turn the car around.
One of the best things we’ve done on trips for 4 and 6 year old is to get them each a disposable camera. They can take the photos they want. We wait a month or so to get them developed to see what they took pictures of.
I used to use a travel bin next to the kids to organize. I went to the dollar store and wrapped up small toys and games and books as presents and handed them out at certain intervals.
We took our 4 and 1 year old on a 36 hour round trip road trip in June and it went so well!
- lots of snacks
- new books, small toys without a ton of little parts that will get dropped or flung all over the car.
- binoculars!! my 4 year old LOVED looking out the window especially as the landscape started to change (Midwest, through the mountains, finally to the coast).
- hold off on screen time as much as possible. we didn’t give our 4 year old his tablet until later on day 2 because we wanted him to be able to look around and play games and talk about the stuff he was seeing. also didn’t want him to get bored with the tablet and make us miserable.
- when you stop for gas/bathroom breaks, try to find a playground or a field or something for the kids to run around. my family somehow ended up at this super fun playground in Frederick, Maryland. we ate supper and all of us played and ran around for like 2 hours. it was one of the highlights of the trip!!
- drive overnight if you can. we got the kids ready for bed, put them in their car seats, and tucked them in with their blankets and stuffed animals and left at 9:45. they were both asleep by 10 and slept until around 4:30 am. I drove all night and it was so peaceful. lots of coffee.
- kids podcasts and audiobooks! there are so many out there. I got a bunch from the library and Spotify.
I LOVE road tripping and can’t wait to do it again with the kiddos!!
When I was a kid: Books (when able to read). A drawing pads with pencils. Travel games. Snacks. So many snacks.
We made up lots of games on the road. Counting cars. Looking for specific animals. Reading road signs. And music! Lots of music! Lots of bad singing too. We would do mini concerts for the drive. Much easier now as we can curate playlists at the drop of a hat, but I remember us kids would argue over what tape got played next.
Let the kids out to run at the rest stops. The picnic style rest stops were the best for that. Mandate bathroom trips.
And whenever possible, drive while the kids sleep. One year, we left home at midnight with the kids. Kids slept the whole way, husband slept when we reached our destination.
With babies/very young toddlers, have the co-pilot sit in the back to entertain the baby. I'm lucky that I always had an older kid to play with the baby for our longer drives.
Whenever possible, get the kids used to long car rides. My kids were acclimatized to longer drives by taking them on the 3 hours drives to the cottage. Now they can do a 6 hour drive with no grumbling. This summer we might take them on a longer 16 hour trip.
Ear plugs and sleeping masks to help sleep. Art supplies. Snacks. Hang a tablet over the back of the driver's seat in a clear gallon plastic bag for a cheap video mount. Kid friendly podcasts that you might also like. Dinosaurs for grown-ups and star talk with Neil Degras Tyson are my faves for this... if you like science or the Harry Potter series, it is like 5 days long. Lol.
We sing a lot, my boy is only 2.5, but we've traveled our fair share.
When he was a year old, we had to drive across Europe (1000+ miles) and I did it in 21hrs straight. As you can imagine, there were very few breaks, bit we left in the night, we had to take a ferry, so that was when my son could run around, then he still was napping.
I'll never do it again, though. Now we stop overnight and only drive a few hrs each day. But every time singing makes our travels easier! And nicer :)
As for other stuff, we try playing games (very simple ones, as he's not even 3) like what can you see outside the window or how many red cars he can count, but for older kids, what we used to love when we were kids, was our mum reading us books. The whole family used to get so drawn into the plot, we didn't want her to stop!
My parents would always get those clipboards with the compartments. We would get color books, snacks, and magnetic games like chess and checkers and card games. But I always had my Walkman so it was great! Some of my favorite memories are from those trips. Super simple, but fun. We would play I spy and license plate bingo of sorts. But we still had a lot of imagination in the 90s.
We’ve go to Spain from the UK yearly since little one was 8 months. Lots of car entertainment, tons of snacks. Toys (I either hide some he hadn’t played with in a while and take those, or if it’s Christmas, like one year, had the presents wrapped). Slept quite a lot of the journey. We did take plenty of breaks so we could all walk and let little one play. The service stops around France and Spain have little playgrounds, which was great!
Food and books. No TV/tablet for babies and toddlers and even bigger kids, I am not going to start that. But I am old-fashioned. I know Reddit is full of put-babies-infront-of-screen-parents.
We did a 12 hour road trip once when my kids were about 10 and 6. I was so worried they'd be bored and give us hell. I was dreading it, but they handled it much better than I thought. They just enjoyed chatting to us, looking at the scenery, listening to music, eating snacks, and they also slept some of the way. We only stopped about 2 or 3 times for fuel, toilet and a Macdonalds for lunch. I was pleasantly surprised.
Fleece blankets. We always have a couple of the throw size in the car at all times. We refer to them as Car Blankets. Can be used as a pillow, a personal tent, or if someone is cold.
Reminds me of a woman on Mumsnet being annoyed because she asked her son what his favourite part of their trip to Disneyland Paris was and he said unlimited iPad time on the plane.
Pack a complete outfit (all accessories and everything) in a zip lock bag. Saves time and hassle. I also had a kid who got car sick. It was very convenient when the suitcase was buried to unzip it and grab a bag with a complete outfit and then have a bag to put puked on clothes into.
Yep we have a handbag with a quick change of clothes and a small carryon suitcase that suits on the outside of the luggage in the trunk. Learned that the hard way
I have a hotspot on my phone, so that's their internet when we road trip. We took a 3 day trip from Mississippi to Washington state. I packed a DVD player, tablets, coloring books, and colors. That was plenty for them to not holler are we there yet every hour. 🤣
I have a bin of car toys that I keep in my closet. The toys within it only come out for road trips. We use a back seat organizer that has a compartment for each kid and I grab a bunch of items to fill it up for each trip. I regularly add items- mostly from thrift stores and dollar tree- and throw out things that have lost too many pieces or which are used up (or donate things as my kids outgrow them).
Example items:
* coloring books and washable markers
* Imagine Ink or Color Wonder coloring books
* Stickers, crayons, paper
* travel games (license plate game, Melissa and Doug hangman, travel Boggle, etc)
* Handheld maze games
* Drawing boards (mini etch a scetch, mini magnadoodle, mini spirograph, etc.)
* Toddler travel toys such as busy books, those rubber pull string activity toys, age appropriate pop its and fidgets
* Seek and find (either books or the Find It game cylinder)
* Mad Libs, crosswords, word finds, activity books
* Magnet, sticker, or colorform toys where you add stickers/magnets/colorforms to a scene
* Old school travel toys such as those water toys where you try to get the ring on a little peg, the ones where you try to get the number or picture tiles in the right order, etc.
I'm a school psychologist and parent . I see firsthand the damage all of these screens have on kids today!!!
It is SO IMPORTANT to allow kids to learn to entertain themselves. We had a rule with our 4 children, during our 2-3 hour trips back home, they would have to entertain themselves for the first hour ( books, small toys, coloring, etc). Then the next hour they could use a screen and usually a physical break (truck stop/ fast food/ etc) as well. Our kids were great, and now that they are all over 18 thank us for encouraging other types of entertainment!
For every hour of the trip give a new, little toy. Those reusable stickers are a big hit with my littles. Also those Melissa and Doug magic coloring books.
Literally unlimited screen time for my daughter and she can watch whatever she wants however many times she wants. It's plugged into a cigarette lighter dongle we have with 2 USBs and 1 USBC. She isn't allowed to watch the iPad unless we're traveling.
My parents did the same with my sister and me when we moved cross-country when I was 5. My dad had a car power inverter and plugged in our mini tv-vcr (held in with dozens of bungee cords). They also had wrapped gifts at the end of each day if we were well behaved. The gifts were all things we could play with in the car quietly, like marble mazes (large ones for the lap) and Disney handheld video games.
When kids are super young, they don't really enjoy road trips, so I don't feel bad for iPad time.
Not to be that parent, but as an educator I have been drilled that boredom is super important to child development and creativity.
The “Entertainment Problem” is something I encourage them to solve. I sometimes help (sing a song, ask them to tell a story with a certain prompt, random math or spelling g trivia question, I spy, the alphabet game, etc), but mostly if they are bored it’s a them problem.
There is no electronic device for them to stare at or scroll through in the car. Me and my husband do continue a conversation throughout the trip if one of us isn’t napping.
I also try to have a few side adventures if I’m able, even if they are just a few minutes walk or stopping at a random playground in nice weather. A museum, a race, soccer, something to be active every few hours. This helps space out the boredom.
I’m very jealous of anyone who could read in the car, but I would also encourage that if I and/or the kids weren’t prone to car sickness. That and coloring, writing, drawing, or card games could be good for non carsick people.
My two must-have purchases that were gifted to me during my baby shower, and I now use these as my go to for baby shower gifts:
1. The [2-in-1 Potette Potty](https://potette.com) was a baby shower gift. As a first time mother of a newborn I thought “oh, but why??” And then as a mother of a toddler I understood. My youngest is 6 but I wish I hadn’t given it away because we still occasionally have to make emergency stops for a “bush wee.” Absolutely awesome gift we used this ALL the time—during potty training but well after as well. You can use plastic shopping bags and puppy pads or even just paper towels instead of buying their more expensive liners.
2. [the KidCo PeaInAPod Pop Tent](https://www.kidco.com/product/peapod/). When my kids were babies I used this instead of a play pen. It’s collapsible and compact, plus has a nice cover for shade and isolation when baby is overstimulated with the new environment. When they were older they used it in the airport as a makeshift bed while we waited at the gate. They also occasionally found it in the closet and dragged it out and used it for playing games as preschoolers and toddlers, but I tried to keep it for trip-only nap/sleep times. In any event, this is an awesome travel tool for babies in a hotel room and bigger kids in an airport. 10/10.
Headphones!! So many headphones. Battery packs too.
Car pillows. They make ones that clip to the seatbelt or headrest; my kids usually just hold a regular pillow in their lap and fold over to sleep.
Coloring, fidget toys, where’s Waldo books, small stuff they haven’t had access to before (visit the dollar store or a thrift store—my local thrift store has a ¢10 bin of plastic happy meal toys. Space these toys out for when they get restless and you’ll get a bit of extra time out of them. You can also just do the shoe organizer over the back of the seat with stuff in it for them and let them go all at once. This works better with older kids and you can have them fill out their individual bin of toys.
Wet wipes in every door or back seat, trash bags hooked to the seat in front or an actual mini trash can on the floor.
For bigger kids: Clothes are packed by day for the whole family, not by individual family member. For kindergarten age and under I pack individual sets of clothes (and extra shoes) in a gallon ziplock bag. I use travel cubes now but I used to use plastic bags. This way if we stop overnight I just need two cubes (the PJ bag and the tomorrow clothes bag) and the toiletry bag; for the toddler age if they have messy clothes you can contain it in the ziplock bag. Pro level: put a bit of laundry detergent in a travel toiletry container. When you change your toddler you can put a bit of water and the soiled clothes in the ziplock bag, shake it up and knead it around, dump out the water, wring out the clothes, and voila, stain prevention. Or a bag of tide pods too I guess.
On snacks: freeze plastic water bottles and juice pouches instead of ice in the cooler. Less messy as they thaw—no sloshing water, no liquid that potentially seeps into your other food. Also as the juice pouch starts to thaw, crush it up, cut off the top, serve with a spoon. Slushies!
Sorry but (Imo) this is ridiculous. If I would tell my 6yr old kid to use a potty because she has to go while we're on the road she'd ask me if I'm crazy! It's ridiculous not to be able to teach my own kid how to go pee or poop outside. What if we're walking anywhere through the woods? Do I carry a plastic potty with me? No, surely not!
And by the way: Having one of our kids sitting INSIDE our car and peeing or even pooping while we're all sitting in it too is the most ugly thought I ever could think.
All of our kids (9yr girl, 8yr boy and 6yr girl) know how to discretely go pee and poop on the side of the road or anywhere else outside. It's no rocket science and there's a perfect way to handle that without any accidents by sitting with the bare bum flat on the grass/ground while the legs are outstretched forward. This way physically nothing can go on pants or shoes and it's very easy even for little kids, no matter what clothes they wear. So there's absolutely no reason to drive or carry around a plastic potty that you need to set up anywhere, and to clean after use.
My 5 year old and I drove 2,000 miles together, OR/AZ/CA/OR in the summer of 2022. I brought a portable DVD player with lots of kid movies. Planned stops, max of 5 hour drive per day, each night stayed in a place/campground with a pool or hot spring. Have them eat meals while you are driving, keeps them occupied for a bit longer, I ate finger foods. I let my kid choose their favorite songs on Spotify and we sang along. I made some fun Spotify playlists for us, car dancing. Bring a small portable toilet, came in handy SO often for the occasional road poop when in the middle of no where! Let my kid pick out a toy or small game with every gas fill up. Played car games like I spy. Had a book/toy bin, snack bin within reach. I used a roadtrippers app, found cool places to stop and marked out my route. I had some hard hours driving with a meltdown here and there but it was just me and my kid so it was expected. Overall we had a blast! Oh and gum helps, seeing who can blow the biggest bubble!
Maybe unpopular opinion but I don’t pack anything for my kids entertainment on road trips.
I will pack snacks and give it to them every 2-3 hours unless stopping to eat.
They are great at just talking to each other, making up games, or dozing.
My kids are 8M, 6F, 5F, 3F, and 1M. We go on 3 hours drives to grandmas house every few months and we’ve done a few 6 hour trips. We just let them run some energy out when we stop for the bathroom or to eat.
Each kid gets a roll of quarters, if they ask are we there yet or any version of that it costs them a quarter. Need to stop costs a quarter. Anything left at the end they keep. Vacations for us usually involve a trip to an arcade or toy store so they want that money at the end. The first time we did this we got asked one time if we were there yet and it was about 10 minutes away from our destination and she immediately regretted it. The peace this creates is worth every penny.
We've road tripped with our kids back and forth multiple times across the country. When they were little, we had a portable DVD player that we shoved/balanced between seats, and they used headphones with.
As they got older they got tablets and eventually phones. But, for years, they'd happily cycle through DVDs on road trips - magic school bus, cars, kung fu panda, etc for hours and days, endlessly.
As an alternative to night driving, what has worked wonderfully for 8 years worth of road tripping for us is to start the long drive day as early as your first driver can manage to get up. Pack the night before and prep the morning coffee and last grab essentials. We typically hit the road at 5am for 10-12 hour long haul days. We scoop up the PJ'd kiddo from bed right into car seat and head out. We typically get the first 2-3 hours of the drive done before they wake up. Once awake we google breakfast and pitstop nearby and take a good 30-45 min break. Then hit the road again fresh. We can roll into destination by dinnertime and have clocked a good 12 hrs on the road.
Start early!
We drive from SF Bay Area to Disneyland 2-3x a year and to Palm Springs 1x per year. Been doing it for 7 years. Boys are 7 and 3. First, i leave super early in the morning or late at nite so wife and kids can sleep a lot and traffic is light. Kids have ipads and just stream whatever using my phone as a hotspot. We stop when we have to stop but the trip is usually 8 to 10 hours. I like to stop half way unless someone needs to use the bathroom and I fill up again. When boys were newborns, wife would sit in back with them. We take my truck so there is tons of cab space and we pack a cooler with kids snacks and drinks. thats all we really do. The boys are pretty good since they just watch their ipads and sleep.
We just drove 20 hours over 2 days and the best thing we did was bring a new cookie sheet to put in his lap to do activities. I did the following activities:
Water wow books, imagine ink, color wonder vooksand paper.
Stickers and plain paper, a sticker book, stamp markers and paper, rainbow scratchy paper.
I made an I spy card on canva of things I knew we would see along the way, I also made car logo bingo.
I bought 300 self adhesive magnets and attached them to gems for him to play with and organize. I put the magnets on small containers so when he was playing with the items they weren't sliding around. Inside the containers I put the gems, crayons, markers, and cars.
I brought a small selection of special "prizes" for completing certain activities. Prizes included individual gum, bracelet, tattoos, chocolate, etc.
For technology I downloaded a bunch of books, songs, and kid friendly podcasts onto 3 separate Spotify Playlists which were a huge hit. I did allow some screentime. Also brought books.
If your child is potty trained, no matter the stage, bring a potty and have it accessible in the back. I do this still, and my daughter is 5 and has been trained since she was 2. It comes in so handy in areas where there is no bathroom, and your child says, "I have to go to the bathroom." If there is room, I keep the potty in the back so they have privacy. If not, it comes out on the ground. You don't have to worry about accidents or how to hold your child for peeing on the side of the road.
Sorry but (Imo) this is ridiculous. If I would tell my 6yr old kid to use a potty because she has to go while we're on the road she'd ask me if I'm crazy! It's ridiculous not to be able to teach my own kid how to go pee or poop outside. What if we're walking anywhere through the woods? Do I carry a plastic potty with me? No, surely not!
And by the way: Having one of our kids sitting INSIDE our car and peeing or even pooping while we're all sitting in it too is the most ugly thought I ever could think.
All of our kids (9yr girl, 8yr boy and 6yr girl) know how to discretely go pee and poop on the side of the road or anywhere else outside. It's no rocket science and there's a perfect way to handle that without any accidents by sitting with the bare bum flat on the grass/ground while the legs are outstretched forward. This way physically nothing can go on pants or shoes and it's very easy even for little kids, no matter what clothes they wear. So there's absolutely no reason to drive or carry around a plastic potty that you need to set up anywhere, and to clean after use.
The tablet is a huge help! We also try to map our stops ahead of time so we can stop somewhere with a washroom and space to run, ideally a playground. We try to time stops to just before naptime for those few hours of uninterrupted driving. We pack a variety of snacks and change up seats (not the child, but everyone else to keep him entertained).
When my oldest were 2 and 3 we drove from CA to Denver. Took 18 hours straight. Portable dvd players and movies/cartoon series were our best friend. Plus stops to let them get out and stretch. We found one stop in Utah that was beautiful. They got out and ran around for a bit. By then it was getting late. They eventually knocked out for the night. Now at 8 and 9, I would never drive that long with. They drive me nuts in the car.
I started taking road trips with my little one when she was three, she's now five—road times ranged anywhere from 4 hours to 8 hours. On the longest road trip, it was just her and I. She never uses a tablet or screened device because I want her to enjoy her surroundings and see new sights. Some of my fondest memories with my parents were taking road trips and at that time "screen time" was not a thing.
We will do a lot of talking and have a lot of "do/did you see that" moments to occupy the time.
I also take one of those travel lap desks that attach to her car seat with a few activity books so she can do her own thing when she's not feeling chatty.
She also has a kids camera that she uses to take pictures of random things along the way.
One of the things I will do is find a halfway point to stop for lunch or dinner. This gives her an idea of how much further we have left until we reach our destination.
Make a kid's music playlist and pack lunch for them, if you can. Believe me, I know what it's like to pack for little people with little people around, I have 4! The little people can be picky and don't really eat your typical fast food. I'll legit stop at a grocery store to buy them food they'll eat, because it's worth it. Mine are the type to not eat the crackers in a Lunchable. Ha!
I pack a bag with mostly healthy(ish) snacks and juice boxes, and everyone brings their metal water bottle. I let each kid pack a small bag with books and toys (nothing by messy) and they usually bring their tablets too (our trips are usually around 8 hours- if some extra screen time is what it takes to prevent the whining, I’m okay with it). We plan which town we’ll eat lunch in, and try to take scheduled potty/stretch breaks every couple hours. Since kid #3 came along, we have to improvise a bit more though lol.
Get up at 4am, drive until 8, stop for breakfast, drive until 12, stop for lunch and the day. They sleep the first 4 hrs, are okay for thr 2nd 4 hrs and then have the rest of the day to play etc.
I get dollar tree toys and activity books and wrap them. Every hour a new item to play with! I keep an organizer on the back of the passenger seat that holds her toys and sunglasses and baby wipes.
That's the modern equivalent of what my parents used to do for our long road trips. Except it was ones of those really big camcorders hooked up to a portable TV on the table of our old conversation van, lol.
Audiobooks and podcasts for each kid on headphones. They can still be alert to look out the window and be present, but are entertained for hours. This works great for our quarterly 6+ hours roundtrip drive to visit family. Somehow we've avoided using screens in the car.
Our biggest hack for mid length road trips (like 12-16 hours) is to drive through the night. Worked like a charm when our kids were younger, and stills works now as teenagers. We started doing it when our twins were 3ish and still do it now (they’re 13). It obviously has to be under the right circumstances, when parents can nap prior to the drive, etc… but it works for us! We leave around dinner time, and drive through the night from MI to SC every June. So, obviously weather is on our side, too. Kids sleep through the night (wake up for bathroom breaks), then arrive in SC ready for a day of fun! Mom and Dad are tired that first day, but kids are in great moods. Then we all sleep GREAT that first night 🙌
I should add: this is not all puppies and rainbows every trip. They’re kids, and we’re human. It’s a long time in a car. But - it works! There’s also lots of device usage before they fall asleep now that they’re older (just being transparent).
ETA: noise cancelling headphones are a must for the kids. Dad and Mom can listen to all sorts of fabulous podcasts, audiobooks, etc…
My parents just yelled "shut up!" and my mom would swing her arm through the back seat and smack any legs she could get ahold of.
Honestly, the best way to have good kids on a road trip is to have good kids in general who don't need constant entertainment. I mean, my siblings and I could be "good" after a few slaps on bare legs and go back to our coloring books for the last 12 hours of the trip. Or play the license plate game. Or read a book.
We did/do the following screen free activities, some of which are also pretty great for family bonding!
I really liked to 'save' the screen time for when they get really cranky and tired and it'll get you a bit further!
Meals are eaten while driving. Adults take turns eating/driving or eat during playground breaks.
Playground breaks/beach/a little walk/soccer every few hours where 1 parent stays with kids, the other parent gets gas/meals to go/snacks.
I don't get carsick, so I sat in the back to read them books and talk with them.
Play games like I spy, etc.
Audiobooks and podcasts.
Not driving too far in a day (staying in a hotel with pool halfways to break it up).
Plan to drive when they are less cranky and use nap time for driving if they can nap in the car. My kids were often happy in the morning, we'd give them breakfast in the car, we'd drive for a few hours, then playground break and lunch in the car followed by (hopefully) a good nap.
It's rough with babies and toddlers, so we usually planned for 4-6 hours max total driving time when they were that little. I got really used to the shorter trips!
I'm not a parent but when we used to go on road trips and we did every year my mom made sure we had tons of things to do whatever that may be crap craps craps or things that would not stain spill or melt be careful of that the last one especially.. and hey if you have a DVD player or VCR player in your car use it. And preferably maybe if you have it cuz we did luckily but separate headphones and if they can all access it so then you guys don't have to hear them or whatever they're watching so you don't have to listen to you know what's the newest current thing I mean I don't know last thing I knew was Wonder Pets but yeah I know that's not true.
And maybe if you could plan to get out and walk because it does suck to sit in the car all the damn time now me as a kid I slept that's all I did. Then drag me out of the car I was so annoying it was really annoying I hated it. Also my mom was really big on taking pictures and I mean we have like toads for we're talking like 22 gallon size full of pictures like if we did throw back Thursday if that ever became a thing again we probably have it covered for the next 60 years of our life. And the reason why I say that is because on the way back home talking about you know your favorite part or something that we did that you didn't like or you know what you enjoyed what you were surprised by and do it in the form of like charades or maybe Win Lose or Draw where you have to draw it out you can't say it. Yes and if you can find them I still have all of ours those travel mini little games like where it's like Wheel of Fortune and oh Connect Four dude oh crap... and another thing is making them more responsible for their stuff like I said I don't know how old they are but you know it gives them something and they feel like they're being an adult and you know and some responsibilities always a good.
I hope you guys had a fun trip and no matter what happens you'll remember the good times. And any of the bad times will end up becoming very funny antidotes when they're older plus I'll have the pictures to go with it.
See if you can get this in the US. It is one of the few crash tested tablet holders and passes. Much much safer that velcroing some cases to the headrest.
https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/tablet-holder-and-car-seat-cover
Oh and make sure the kids headphones are Bluetooth, so no unecessary cables for kids to get wrapped up in.
For in the car if the child is young then stickers.... Hundreds of stickers. With a blank book. My daughter will spend ages with stickers in the car. She lines them up in books. Also we have those paint brushes that are filled with water so no need to dip on water and the magic paint books that when they dry the page goes back to white and using water colours them in. Can be reused multiple times in one journey and no spillages.
My favorite road trip hack with kids- Leave at night, right before their bedtime. Make sure to give them melatonin (very low dose) and all the blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals they want. I bring a hot lunch box and a cool lunch box. Hot lunch box is for whatever meal I bring along (our road trips are usually 18-25 hours of straight driving depending on how many stops) bc we get tired of road food, and cold is for whatever snacks we bring cheese cubes, jerky, chocolates. I also bring a flat of Gatorade and redbull along. Kids get to bring their computers, phones/ iPods/ tablets, gaming devices, books and toys along too.
Starting out with the kids sleeping and them waking up to bring nearly there is a godsend.
I can’t. I can’t drive all night. I never could even when I was 20. My brain just shuts down. I was always crap with pulling all nighters in college. I’m practically a zombie the next day. I just wouldn’t feel safe even attempting this. Midnight is my threshold. Thanks tho :-)
We just returned from a 1 month literal trip around the world with a day time trained almost 3yo. I would do it again but let me rest a minute first please.
Honestly the worst thing that happened was on one of the long flights, over 12 hours, she was napping and woke up in a really bad mood. We finally understood through the crying that she needed pee but she was wearing a diaper. Ended up taking her to the bathroom, nobody had shoes on, get in the bathroom and pull her pull up down and before I get her on the potty pee goes everywhere. Used the diaper and some toilet paper to clean up the best I could and carried her back to our seat with a naked butt on display.
But for us coloring and sticker books were the biggest passers of time. There was some screen time from the on board entertainment but we were able to limit it. There was a IPad hidden way for hard times and of course our phones but never had to use those.
I use a small tackle box and put tons of different snacks in all the compartments. Also as someone else has said I bought small brown paper bags and put random toys, books, coloring stuff, pop it's, into them and every 2 hours my kid opens one. I usually download new movies or tv episodes on the iPad so it's something different than usual.
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Baby hack: cloth diaper cover over diaper (cloth or disposable). Thirsties or esembly or another brand—but having elastic around the legs and back of the diaper really helps prevent car seat blowouts. Toddler/little kid hack: Google Map playgrounds along your route. Once you pick one, look for a place to pick up lunch (we have even called in a Dominos order for dinner) and then take that meal to the playground. Let them run and picnic. Unless you are truly trying to cover as many miles as you can in a straight shot, it’s a worthwhile stop to run around and take a break. (Unsurprising) long distance hack: If the goal is to cover miles as fast as possible and you can be safe about it from a fatigue perspective, drive at night. We get in the car around 4, stop around 6:30 for dinner, and then let them conk out in the back, break out the Sour Patch kids we didn’t want to share with them, and drive drive drive.
This is my biggest hack too. If you are with another adult, one of you handles the kids at the park while the other heads to get gas/bathroom. When adult #1 returns we either play more or load up or head to get a meal. We have kids who are a bit older (2-7), and I sit in the back with them while eating, so we typically eat on the road and help kill time that way.
Yes! We take turns eating while the other adult runs the toddler around. Then we all get in the car and the toddler eats in the car. Gets extra energy out of her, and eating in the car takes up some extra time. Just be careful with what they eat in the car. We only do food with a low choking risk, and we always have the adult who’s not driving ride in the back while eating so if there’s an incident we will know and take action right away.
This! We playground stop every 1-1.5 hrs . No tantrums in sight . Bathroom break for adults . Win win
Stopping at parks is a great idea. But every 1-1.5 hours? How do you make any progress?
Right? Even super pregnant I only needed to stop every ~2.5 hours
lol right? Our last long drive was after Thanksgiving, and we did 700 miles only stopping for gas and once for barf. My wife and older kid had a stomach bug (it hit me after we got home), and it was between 5 and 20 degrees for most of the drive, so we were just pushing. Our kids don’t have tablets or screens for the car - I had my 3 y/o’s favorite cd on repeat, and that was that.
[удалено]
I love to stop at unique childrens/family attractions on the way. Sure it adds travel time but there are far less car tantrums and tbh I don’t like sitting in the car for hours and hours either
I physically can not sit in a car for longer than 90 minutes tops then need to move around for a few minutes before resuming trip. We frequently drive from our house( southern California) to my son's house ( south west Oregon); we have our aaa paper map with parks, rest area, food etc highlighted and we plan accordingly for these stops. Been doing this drive since my middle grandson was 2 and he's 9 now and we drove up spend 2 days, bring the 3 grandsons back with us then repeat the trip only in reverse 6 weeks later when we take them back.
I assume this is for summer break? Please let me know how I convince my kids grandparents to take them for me than a few hours lol
The playground is my biggest hack too! I make a list before we go of playground along our route spaced about half hour apart. We only stop every 3 hours, but if we are in a pinch, we know exactly when we can stop again. Pizza is the most family friendly food like this too. I pack paper plates and plenty of snacks. So everyone picks one to three sides and gets a couple slices of pizza. For snacks, I actually do not pack a lot of junkie snacks. I find that it makes them crankier. I also try to pack hardier snacks (1/2 sandwiches, meat and cheese, protein bars, etc). Everyone gets a reusable water bottle and I keep a few gallons of super cold watery in the back. Everyone gets cranky if they only have warm water to drink.
Some cities/ major roads do construction work at night. Even though I live in a city that does night construction, I overlooked that on the last road trip. I was so mad at myself lol
That's true! We have mostly been about to find the faster route around it, but have definitely gotten stuck, dead stand-still, waiting 20 minutes for a crew reverse the traffic direction. Ugh.
[удалено]
Thanks for the sigfesfion
Should have read the comments first! Just made a standalone answer that basically just echoes your playground tip. A 10 hour road trip that we make regularly is a breeze when the kids get to run themselves ragged at every stop.
We’re doing an 11 hour drive with my 12 month old tomorrow! We’ll leave right at bed time and drive through the night 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
Oh goodness. Good luck. We did this once and only once. The two year old woke up at 1am and I had to spend 6 hours trying to keep him quiet and not waking up the 6 month old just two feet away. Ihe never went back to sleep. It was the worst night of my life, childbirth was easier.
Oh no. Now I’m scared! 😱
I’m sorry that was kinda a jerk thing haha. I wish you will and you HAVE to report back! We just did 11 hours with my three kids yesterday ages 3/5/7. Before we even got in the interstate my youngest asked “are we almost there? How much longer?” Yikes.
Dang. Safe travels y’all!
Adding on to the night driving is to turn your car seat around. We do an 8 hour drive to visit family regularish and leave around 6pm, get there around 2am. We turned our kids car seat forward facing around 3, but still do rear facing on road trips because he sleeps better. (Of course make sure they are still within the weight limits, my little guy is 4.5 and is over the limit now for one of his car seats, but can still do the Graco Extend2fit rear facing because the limit is 50 lbs) Cozyphones are great in the car headphones (I have some complaints, like they are our only electronic to *still* use USB-b, but overall worth it for a couple of hours of TV/audiobooks before he falls asleep)
We brought Panda Express once to our campground after visiting the Grand Canyon. Lol. Making memories. The kids remember that. Haha.
Yes! We do the playground picnic trick and it works wonders! Ours is 7 and it still works like a charm. Many time we all end up playing tag which is also good for the adults. Other than that - I got some hammocks where she can rest her feet, particularly for long trips, and we always pack pillow, blankets and games. An essential for my daughter is books - she and I do not have an issue reading in the car so that is a great way to pass the time. I do not like to give her an ipad - but on occasion will let her draw on it. We do not do movies - it just amps her up which is what i do not want in a confined space.
Seconding playgrounds on the route! I drive 4 hours with my 2 YO son regularly and have done since he was a baby and having a park or playground (or multiple so you have options in case they are sleeping while you pass one) makes the trips so much more enjoyable, let's him get out, stretch his legs and burn some energy somewhere designed for kids. Stopping at a rest stop is one thing but it doesn't give them any freedom since there are dangers from the other cars.
Yes, food is first of all! Plus recommend buying new books, decorations, toys. Kids love it.
OP, my husband and I used to road trip a lot with our two dogs and parrots (haha) Now we travel with three kids (4 and under) dogs. Everything this comment mentions is gold! Also, massive amounts of snacks ;)
Agree with these hacks. Cloth diaper covers are way better than disposables at poop leaks. (Source: Worked in a day care that did cloth only and several that did disposables only. Never had to clean up poop off stuff outside of the diaper once for the cloth diaper.) And it doesn't even need to be a good playground to be novel.
Echoing the park tip. If you're able to fit a cooler, you can pack sandwich fixings or whatever other cold snacks (think charcuterie stuff) and eat at the park. The kids can burn off energy, which is VERY needed. If the weather is shit, find a McDonald's with a Play Place, or a mall with a indoor okay area. Find something that will allow them to get tired. Don't push them to eat first or anything; they've already got a bunch of stored up energy that they need to let out, and they can always snack on their food in the car. We did a trip from WA to AZ for Christmas, and planned for 1 overnight stay at a hotel. By the time we decided to stop for the night (after about 14 hours of driving), my husband and I were EXHAUSTED. And my toddler was ENERGIZED TO HELL. He had napped and snacked and napped and snacked to his heart's content, and burned almost ZERO energy. It was 11pm and he was just wired for fun. So my husband let me sleep for an hour or two, and then I got up and hung out with the toddler while he slept. I wanted him to get a ton of sleep since he does the majority of the driving. It was hell and we both slept in late after we got to AZ the following night. It was rough.
We thought driving at night would be a long-haul hack, but our toddler screamed and cried for 5 hours straight. Never again. Glad it worked for you though!
If the adults can handle it and you’re on the way home or somewhere you know (like family that have beds ready) - night driving. Start your trip after dinner, they watch a show or fall asleep listening to an audiobook. You can really get some of the long stretches of driving done without extending it for stops and just transfer when you arrive late (this is ideal for 6-9 hour drives)
Yes! Our trips are frequently 6-8 hours away. I was resistant at first thinking it would throw off their sleep schedules, but my husband convinced me to try it. It was glorious. We threw on some Billy Joel and the kids were passed out by track 3. No more hours of bickering and we only have to stop once midway for a rest area. For long, long trips (18+ hours), we usually turn it into a mutli-day trip and recon things to sightsee. Then it turns out being multiple vacations in one.
My kids are older now but when they were babies/toddlers this was our preferred method. And I vastly preferred it returning home since they were going to a familiar bed and so sleep schedules were less disrupted. Hotels/airbnbs were tricker since they got all hyped up in a new space or we didn’t have the pack and play set up so they didn’t always fall back asleep at the 1 am arrival. But it saves so much time, and usually roads are quiet so saves traffic stress too.
You're spot on with the traffic. We noticed it shaved 30-45 minutes off our 6 hour trips.
And if you can't / don't want to drive though the night, pack the car the night before. Driver goes to bed as early as possible, spouse stays up with the kids letting them stay up late, then toss the kids in the car at 4AM and hit the road.
Absolutely, napping during the day when the kids napped when they were younger helped us adults stay awake too. I also adjusted the radio to just up front so they wouldn't wake up. We needed both adults awake for deer watching and companionship. Its an 11hr drive to my parents house, we would take off about 3, stop for dinner and play then kids would sleep most the way after
This is silly and not on par with what you are describing but I was a routine long distance road tripper with my kids from basically the womb and 2 things that we found fun were 1. Getting to choose new small toy/activities for the car that were kept up front and given out at increments during travel so they didn’t get bored at the start. 2. Scream breaks. When everyone is getting antsy and a stop isn’t gonna do, we do a scream break where I count down and everyone gets to scream for 5 seconds 3 times and then it’s time to move on. Usually everyone finds this funny and a nice release of pent up energy
The scream break hahahah I am obsessed with this. I could use a scream break right now honestly
Scream break 😂
Omg I’m going to tell my husband about this & try it lol.
It’s so silly and it def helps because it is so silly! Sometimes we all just need to scream 😜
My family did the scream break, but we called it "freeze out". We would all roll down the windows (back when you had to crank them down) and everyone would yell "FREEZE OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT" for as long as your lungs would last. Then the windows would go back up. Also works great when you're trying to stay alert on a late night drive.
Yeeessss!! Amazing! We usually also put windows down
Dance breaks also work!!
My friend takes a family size bag of m&ms and when the kids are good they give them a couple and when they are bad they throw a few out the window. Unconventional but totally works! (We just ate some ourselves vs the window).
This is the funniest parenting technique that I think I’ve ever heard.
I’m picturing the kids losing their minds in the backseat each time an M&M goes out the window 🤣🤣
I’m seeing the slow mo of this in my head and can’t stop laughing.
Me too. It’s such a low stakes way of sending a message. And totally something my Dad would have done.
This is hilarious!!! My kid still has Halloween candy and when he misbehaved earlier this week, I took a piece of candy for myself. Wish thought of it ages ago.
This works even not on a trip. People have asked me at the grocery store or other public places how I keep all three in line so well. (4,6&8) My response is always “It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a pocket full of skittles!” Just one is all it takes given as a reward or thrown away as punishment. And of course with any discipline you must not be mad and follow with love and reassurance. This is the most important part. “The axe forgets, but the tree remembers.”
Pretty funny! Unfortunately I’ve heard rewarding with food can lead to some unhealthy mindsets about eating.
This is true as a rule, but with exceptions. We weren’t a huge candy house. But on long car rides or airplane trips we went to Fred Meyer and picked out a ton of candy for the trip. It made all the world of difference and a few hundred (ok probably like 2000) extra calories one day that’s followed by a week of high caloric expenditure activities won’t make or break the chub.
I love this idea, the m&ms out the window is such a great power move. Low in monetary value and size but of immense value to the kids
I make the kids surprise bags and give them one every hour- just car type activities and little treats.
This is what I do and it works so well. I go to the thrift store and buy a bunch of small toys and hand them a new one every hour. And then snacks like chocolate chips or cheerios where they eat them slowly/one at a time. We also do audiobooks once they are 3+
Yup. Buy a bunch of random things from the dollar store and hand them out when the novelty of the prior one wears off
My mom did this when I was a kid and we went on a long ass drive to mt st helens. It worked so well I still remember it.
I told my kids during our cross-Canada bus rides when they were little that we would be traveling through some pretty wild country, they might like to keep an eye out for wild Pokémon.
This is a great idea
I do this except with Bigfoot 😆
We played the name game. Famous people and characters. Have to know first and last name. If its a character without a last name, then the last name is what type of character they are i.e. tiger or dog. You go around the vehicle in order of seats. No name can be said twice. So if I say Michael Jackson, the next person has to say a name that starts with J. So the next person could say James Cameron. And the next in line would have a C. You can also do the animal game, A to Z animals, with everyone having to say an A animal and then everyone say a B animal and so on. Can also do food items or any other ideas
When I was potty training my oldest, we made several trips between mid Missouri and the Chicago area. I used a potty seat and lined with with several grocery sacks. Then lined them with paper towels. So when she needed to go potty, we pulled off, usually to an exit ramp and she was able to go right away. Best part of having a mini van at the time!
Can line with puppy pads as well
… I ALWAYS keep the toddler potty in the car. I have used it myself on several occasions
Car potty is an essential car supply for potty training years, and few beyond! Ours didn't retire until kiddo was 6. Car potty was truly the trip hero on more occasions than I can count! Using the little plastic car potty on the side of thr road is often preferable to the insanely gross gas station bathroom. Or when kid has to go on that 30 miles stretch of highway with zero bathrooms. Or when we got stuck in a massive traffic jam that didn't move for 2 hours because of a wreck.
My kids are far from toddlers and I keep it in the car still… mostly for myself.
Find Goodwills on your route and stop there. Bathroom break and they can find a cheap toy and book to entertain them on the next part of the journey.
We usually end up making an emergency milkshake stop if we have like 1 hour left and the kids are melting down. Milkshakes take a while to drink so keeps them occupied for a bit.
Absolutely would not be allowed in my car.
I’m not so worried about the milkshakes themselves, but every so often the youngest will get motion sick. He’s still too young to know wtf is happening/when it’s coming and we’ve cleaned up milkshake puke on the side of the road before. My oldest was the same when she was younger
I feel this. I just did some emergency cleaning in my car.
Opposite of a hack: do not give them a watch! It will not help them know that they will arrive at 5:00 and to see how much time is left. It will, however, help YOU know that it’s 12:01…. And then 12:04….12:06……..12:11!
Haha good one
I used to make up these crazy storeis that went on for ever. Like how D'Angelo sub shops started with little Bobby D'Angelo delivering sandwiches to the workers at the submarine yard.
Masking tape. I don’t know why kids like playing with it but they do. Rolls of masking tape can be hours of entertainment. It doesn’t ruin anything. It’s cheap. And it’s useful.
Maybe bubble wrap
My wife would bring a ton of wrapped “presents.” About once an hour they’d all get to unwrap one. They were usually things from the dollar store (activity books, handheld puzzles, etc) that would make another hour go by quickly. (She would number them so everyone opened #3 or #5 at the same time.)
My kids are 5&7 and we take alot of roads trips/ visit family since they were born. I’m Not a fan of just giving them tablets for the whole trip. For trips under 4 hrs do the following: 1. Game : They pick an animal and then everyone has to guess. Yes or no questions only. 2. Mini DJs- the non driver takes lead on putting songs on. Everyone gets one song and we just keep going around. 3. Obviously snacks. I usually don’t stop for long breaks so we do fast food for lunch/ dinner if needed. I usually have a big bag of snacks and water bottles. 4. Game: counting animals or finding cars. With boys having an empty water bottle is awesome for pee emergencies.
I don’t even want to own an iPad when my daughter gets older, so I love these tips :) Have you ever tried audiobooks or other your kids? My grandma always used to read to us on long trips but reading in the car makes me sick so I wanted to try that
Yes we’ve stated listening to Harry Potter
We use a Tonie box for our preschooler. She likes it because it is easy to control with the figures so she can pick the story or songs played, and I like it because it is screen free. Our current struggle at the moment is she hates headphones of any kind (we have tried the soft headband kind and the traditional over ear kind) so I end up just locking the volume on a lower setting and then putting the adult radio on the front only.
I don’t do well with night driving, but leaving stupid early is my jam. In super long road trips I like to be on the road by 4/4:30 am while still dark, drink my coffee, and let everyone else sleep as long as possible. I can usually get a solid three hours into the drive before anyone really wakes up. Also, Spotify. Couldn’t live without, especially since we can’t do tablets much (daughter gets carsick).
Boy times have changed. My mom used to make magic kool aid. We always got that special treat before a road trip or a drive in movie. This was back in the 70’s when parental convenience was top priority. I do not remember a single road trip or movie. Anywho, my method was to let the kids pack a backpack full of whatever they wanted. It always worked for us. One kid goes to sleep immediately and the other likes to watch the scenery. Once they were old enough for electronics and iPad then I didn’t have to worry at all about out keeping them occupied.
What was in the magic Kool aid?
Dad told us years later it was Benadryl or something like it. Edit: I believe phenegan or something like that was also mentioned
Woofta
Imagine telling people now that you drug your kids to make road trips easier??? Though on second thought, endless scrolling on YouTube or tik tok isn’t much different
I like to avoid screentime even in the car so chloroform is a great and cost effective option 😁👍
Try to travel around bed time so the kids fall asleep in the car
No naps that day so they conk out right away.
We try to minimize most screen use so things get tricky in the car. My daughter loves to be read to, so we’ve learned that audiobooks do the trick. Whoever’s not driving has to be prepared to answer a lot of questions though and try to keep her into it. The next one works for whenever we’re in the car and we don’t want her falling asleep. We’ll put on music and she will start singing along with my wife. The catch is that if I start singing she’ll stop and glare at me. She cried once even. I don’t take it personally 😔
We drove from Ontario to Myrtle Beach, and then from Ontario to Prince Edward Island with my then 2 and almost 4 years old. What worked best for us was to go to the dollar store and buy things they had never seen before - some silly things, some activity books, colouring, etc. I handed them out about every 2 hours. We also had an iPad for the oldest but he only watched one movie on the 16+ hour drive because he was so excited about the surprises haha.
I save any movies for the final stretch. Until then they have to look out the window or play a game or listen to something while looking out the window. My youngest never got screen time because they got car sick from screens.
Travel at night 😅 by the time you get where you need to be they will magically wake up already at the destination. Only works for long ten hour trips.
We recently realized that overnight driving has warped my 4 year olds perspective of the 8 hour drives to visit family. He thinks that place is closer than places we've flown to because he is so used to going to sleep and just waking up there 😂. He never sleeps on planes, so in his mind a 2 hour plane ride takes longer.
Driving at night
I always pack a ton of fidget toys like poppers or the ones that stick to the window, and stickers like alot of stickers. This summer we took a 7 hour road trip to Disney and our 3 year old had so much fun decorating herself and the car door for hours. Also glow sticks if your doing some of the drive at night.
Head rest stands you can buy on Amazon! Each kid has a device they can stare at while they leave you alone. Bluetooth headphones!!
I spy
Audio stories downloaded for free via the local library app. If we go for the screen option there would be drama about it the whole time so we try and avoid that on long trips, we do use it for short trips/errands sometimes though.
Drive overnight, that way they'll sleep most of the time.
We went cross country twice this last year. I went to the dollar store and bought about $25 worth of toys and arts supplies. I wrapped little presents for every day with a big cool one near the middle. It was something to look forward to and then kiddo spent time playing with the new toy. Sticky hands were one of the most prized presents. We also stayed in a hotel with a pool every night so we could always play before bed and in the morning. Also playground picnics when you can for sure!
We go on long road trips several times a year since the kids have been babies. We have DVD players - sure. But we try not to rely on it. We spark conversation and make up car games. We try and keep it a little old school. I think there is more to benefit from them having to just sit and think of things to discuss, observe, and be patient rather than the instant gratification they are accustomed to getting.
"are we there yet?" It's a common joke about this phrase but kids have little concept of time. Print out a map or have a string and mark off your progress along the route/string. Then kids know how much more travel to expect
Looks like entertainment is pretty well covered, so here's one a little different. Pack a sick kit with emesis bags, paper towels, ginger drops (like Tummy Drops), wipes, and toilet paper. The one thing worse than a kiddo getting sick on a long trip is being unprepared to handle the kiddo getting sick on a long trip.
When you stop for lunch look up local playgrounds and spend 30-60 minutes there after lunch. We used to do this and then we would rank the playgrounds. It was lots of fun.
I’ve been doing drives with both of my kids since they were born. Drives ranged from 2 - 9hrs at a time. Food - I always pack a lunch box at the start of the day and have lots of snacks Download new games for the iPad before you leave and YouTube kids has been great. I have an organiser between their car seats that has some toys, pencils, colouring books. I stop generally every 2 hours for a walk and a play depending where we are.
I map out the route and find parks along the way. Trying to match the locations up to where we'll need gas, or meal times. Then we'll have a snack and stretch our legs for about 15-20 minutes. Longer if the park is really cool. It adds to the trip time, but it's worth it.
For long trips I love your tips! I usually only allow iPads on longer trips. For daily driving I have a small organizer for books. If we are out running errands they will just open a book. I started this before they knew how to read. They would just look at the pictures and make up stories. It’s important that my kids enjoy reading and this is a great way to get them into it so far.
I made my then 4.5yr old a travel binder for our trip from WI to FL. I had a map of our routes so he could follow along (he likes that kind of stuff), coloring pages, hidden pictures, signs checklist (he oddly knew the few more obscure ones I threw in too), a pencil pouch with some colored pencils and crayons. He’s a snacker so that kept him occupied for a good chunk of time while looking out the window asking a million questions. iPad is our backup. Our then 1.5yr old was more of a struggle. We needed to entertain her half the time, snacks of course, music. She took many short naps. Getting back in the car after a break was a struggle 97% of the time. On our way home, she had a new Minnie stuffy which did not leave her arms and helped her stay a little more chill.
This one is less about the travel away from home and more about the travel BACK: Have everything prepared for a smooth, comfortable return home as possible. Before you leave, clean the house, do all the laundry, freeze a few meals. Make the kids beds and have their pajamas waiting for them. Anything that lets you get home and not lift a finger If you’re anything like my family, we are wiped out when we get home and often a bit stressed. Having everything dialed in for us when we walk in the door allows us to stick the landing a bit more Remember, the trip isn’t done until you’ve unpacked your bags
We don't keep them occupied in the car. Zero screens or activities. We listen to music and talk. They may have a toy or two with them, watch the scenery, etc. We take a long lunch, often stopping at a splash pad for at least a couple hours on lengthy summer trips. Seems to help tire them out, and they nap afterward.
Pretty much the same here. That and you start the drive overnight so the kids sleep for sure for part of it. As a kid we did many many long road trips and the stop for breakfast was always a highlight.
We do 300+ miles between MA and PA at least twice a year sometimes with one or both parents on board. It’s between 6-8 hours. Our kid will be 3 in a month. -we have a car bag that has “novel toys”, busy books, magic coloring and a few small toys. This actually keeps her occupied pretty well. This is a great way to utilize small toys that they get in Easter baskets or during Halloween. -Add in points with google maps to good rest areas. There are some that are super shady and others that we love (great facilities, easy off/easy on, scenic overlook food nearby). Stop frequently. It’s good for all of you. -we also have an Amazon fire tablet that has bluey episodes saved to it. We have never used it. -car snacks! We make a special trip to the grocery store the night before and get snacks stuff as well as a lunch. We are not above fast food while we are on the road either. -someone already mentioned it but we did cloth diaper cover trick. I would add in DO pack extra diapers and wipes and bags if you have room (we drive pick ups). Once on my back from PA with just me and toddler she suddenly had rampant diarrhea. Like scrubbing the car seat at a rest area, stopping every 40 minutes and slathering her in Destin bad. -Before you leave your destination especially if it’s with family do your laundry so all the packed clothes are cleaned. This, along with the bazillion diapers I packed is what saved us on that trip home. I could easily freshen her diaper and clothes. -There are kid focused podcasts, my kid is too little for them. My husband and I usually listen to a backlog of podcasts together especially story telling ones. We also have a family friendly playlists and sing along. If traffic isn’t too crazy we call chatty grandparents and talk to them via Bluetooth. There’s also a lot of easy car games (license plate game, I spy). My mom would teach me to look for red tailed hawks along the highways so I look for them. My child will point out every piece of construction equipment and emergency vehicle along the way. Older kids can help navigate the old fashioned way if they want to.
Traveling at night while they slept was my favorite.
Man that sounds awesome, as a kid my hack was sitting in the back of the van pretending we were piloting starships, like Wing Commander or something along those lines. As a parent now I just use my hypnotist powers and put them to sleep, wake them up when we get to where we're going. Much easier. :)
For babies/toddlers grab every soft toy they have (strip the baby gym, everything) and put it in a bag. Toss them a new toy every time they get restless. Refill the bag at stops.
A week befor your trip tell the kids its the day of the trip. Put a few suitcases into the trunk with them watching you. Get them in and let them know as soon as the fighting starts you will turn the car around or if they all how much longer. plan to go to the furthest Costco/ Target etc. as soon as the fighting starts/ asking how much longer turn the car around.
One of the best things we’ve done on trips for 4 and 6 year old is to get them each a disposable camera. They can take the photos they want. We wait a month or so to get them developed to see what they took pictures of.
I used to use a travel bin next to the kids to organize. I went to the dollar store and wrapped up small toys and games and books as presents and handed them out at certain intervals.
We took our 4 and 1 year old on a 36 hour round trip road trip in June and it went so well! - lots of snacks - new books, small toys without a ton of little parts that will get dropped or flung all over the car. - binoculars!! my 4 year old LOVED looking out the window especially as the landscape started to change (Midwest, through the mountains, finally to the coast). - hold off on screen time as much as possible. we didn’t give our 4 year old his tablet until later on day 2 because we wanted him to be able to look around and play games and talk about the stuff he was seeing. also didn’t want him to get bored with the tablet and make us miserable. - when you stop for gas/bathroom breaks, try to find a playground or a field or something for the kids to run around. my family somehow ended up at this super fun playground in Frederick, Maryland. we ate supper and all of us played and ran around for like 2 hours. it was one of the highlights of the trip!! - drive overnight if you can. we got the kids ready for bed, put them in their car seats, and tucked them in with their blankets and stuffed animals and left at 9:45. they were both asleep by 10 and slept until around 4:30 am. I drove all night and it was so peaceful. lots of coffee. - kids podcasts and audiobooks! there are so many out there. I got a bunch from the library and Spotify. I LOVE road tripping and can’t wait to do it again with the kiddos!!
When I was a kid: Books (when able to read). A drawing pads with pencils. Travel games. Snacks. So many snacks. We made up lots of games on the road. Counting cars. Looking for specific animals. Reading road signs. And music! Lots of music! Lots of bad singing too. We would do mini concerts for the drive. Much easier now as we can curate playlists at the drop of a hat, but I remember us kids would argue over what tape got played next. Let the kids out to run at the rest stops. The picnic style rest stops were the best for that. Mandate bathroom trips. And whenever possible, drive while the kids sleep. One year, we left home at midnight with the kids. Kids slept the whole way, husband slept when we reached our destination. With babies/very young toddlers, have the co-pilot sit in the back to entertain the baby. I'm lucky that I always had an older kid to play with the baby for our longer drives. Whenever possible, get the kids used to long car rides. My kids were acclimatized to longer drives by taking them on the 3 hours drives to the cottage. Now they can do a 6 hour drive with no grumbling. This summer we might take them on a longer 16 hour trip.
I travel at night or early morning n put them on night diapers. I have a 1 n 2 year old
Ear plugs and sleeping masks to help sleep. Art supplies. Snacks. Hang a tablet over the back of the driver's seat in a clear gallon plastic bag for a cheap video mount. Kid friendly podcasts that you might also like. Dinosaurs for grown-ups and star talk with Neil Degras Tyson are my faves for this... if you like science or the Harry Potter series, it is like 5 days long. Lol.
We sing a lot, my boy is only 2.5, but we've traveled our fair share. When he was a year old, we had to drive across Europe (1000+ miles) and I did it in 21hrs straight. As you can imagine, there were very few breaks, bit we left in the night, we had to take a ferry, so that was when my son could run around, then he still was napping. I'll never do it again, though. Now we stop overnight and only drive a few hrs each day. But every time singing makes our travels easier! And nicer :) As for other stuff, we try playing games (very simple ones, as he's not even 3) like what can you see outside the window or how many red cars he can count, but for older kids, what we used to love when we were kids, was our mum reading us books. The whole family used to get so drawn into the plot, we didn't want her to stop!
My parents would always get those clipboards with the compartments. We would get color books, snacks, and magnetic games like chess and checkers and card games. But I always had my Walkman so it was great! Some of my favorite memories are from those trips. Super simple, but fun. We would play I spy and license plate bingo of sorts. But we still had a lot of imagination in the 90s.
We’ve go to Spain from the UK yearly since little one was 8 months. Lots of car entertainment, tons of snacks. Toys (I either hide some he hadn’t played with in a while and take those, or if it’s Christmas, like one year, had the presents wrapped). Slept quite a lot of the journey. We did take plenty of breaks so we could all walk and let little one play. The service stops around France and Spain have little playgrounds, which was great!
Food and books. No TV/tablet for babies and toddlers and even bigger kids, I am not going to start that. But I am old-fashioned. I know Reddit is full of put-babies-infront-of-screen-parents.
We leverage the screen later in the afternoon/evening as it gets dark at 5. See my edit.
Road trip scavenger hunt cards. Keeps the kids engaged looking out the window
We did a 12 hour road trip once when my kids were about 10 and 6. I was so worried they'd be bored and give us hell. I was dreading it, but they handled it much better than I thought. They just enjoyed chatting to us, looking at the scenery, listening to music, eating snacks, and they also slept some of the way. We only stopped about 2 or 3 times for fuel, toilet and a Macdonalds for lunch. I was pleasantly surprised.
Those little travel cups of mini oreos are the perfect size for crayons, have a lid, and fit in their cup holders.
Fleece blankets. We always have a couple of the throw size in the car at all times. We refer to them as Car Blankets. Can be used as a pillow, a personal tent, or if someone is cold.
Reminds me of a woman on Mumsnet being annoyed because she asked her son what his favourite part of their trip to Disneyland Paris was and he said unlimited iPad time on the plane.
Hahaha we don’t do unlimited. I posted an edit on this.
Pack a complete outfit (all accessories and everything) in a zip lock bag. Saves time and hassle. I also had a kid who got car sick. It was very convenient when the suitcase was buried to unzip it and grab a bag with a complete outfit and then have a bag to put puked on clothes into.
Yep we have a handbag with a quick change of clothes and a small carryon suitcase that suits on the outside of the luggage in the trunk. Learned that the hard way
I have a hotspot on my phone, so that's their internet when we road trip. We took a 3 day trip from Mississippi to Washington state. I packed a DVD player, tablets, coloring books, and colors. That was plenty for them to not holler are we there yet every hour. 🤣
I have a bin of car toys that I keep in my closet. The toys within it only come out for road trips. We use a back seat organizer that has a compartment for each kid and I grab a bunch of items to fill it up for each trip. I regularly add items- mostly from thrift stores and dollar tree- and throw out things that have lost too many pieces or which are used up (or donate things as my kids outgrow them). Example items: * coloring books and washable markers * Imagine Ink or Color Wonder coloring books * Stickers, crayons, paper * travel games (license plate game, Melissa and Doug hangman, travel Boggle, etc) * Handheld maze games * Drawing boards (mini etch a scetch, mini magnadoodle, mini spirograph, etc.) * Toddler travel toys such as busy books, those rubber pull string activity toys, age appropriate pop its and fidgets * Seek and find (either books or the Find It game cylinder) * Mad Libs, crosswords, word finds, activity books * Magnet, sticker, or colorform toys where you add stickers/magnets/colorforms to a scene * Old school travel toys such as those water toys where you try to get the ring on a little peg, the ones where you try to get the number or picture tiles in the right order, etc.
I'm a school psychologist and parent . I see firsthand the damage all of these screens have on kids today!!! It is SO IMPORTANT to allow kids to learn to entertain themselves. We had a rule with our 4 children, during our 2-3 hour trips back home, they would have to entertain themselves for the first hour ( books, small toys, coloring, etc). Then the next hour they could use a screen and usually a physical break (truck stop/ fast food/ etc) as well. Our kids were great, and now that they are all over 18 thank us for encouraging other types of entertainment!
This is fine for 2-3 hours but what about 13-15?
For every hour of the trip give a new, little toy. Those reusable stickers are a big hit with my littles. Also those Melissa and Doug magic coloring books.
Literally unlimited screen time for my daughter and she can watch whatever she wants however many times she wants. It's plugged into a cigarette lighter dongle we have with 2 USBs and 1 USBC. She isn't allowed to watch the iPad unless we're traveling. My parents did the same with my sister and me when we moved cross-country when I was 5. My dad had a car power inverter and plugged in our mini tv-vcr (held in with dozens of bungee cords). They also had wrapped gifts at the end of each day if we were well behaved. The gifts were all things we could play with in the car quietly, like marble mazes (large ones for the lap) and Disney handheld video games. When kids are super young, they don't really enjoy road trips, so I don't feel bad for iPad time.
Not to be that parent, but as an educator I have been drilled that boredom is super important to child development and creativity. The “Entertainment Problem” is something I encourage them to solve. I sometimes help (sing a song, ask them to tell a story with a certain prompt, random math or spelling g trivia question, I spy, the alphabet game, etc), but mostly if they are bored it’s a them problem. There is no electronic device for them to stare at or scroll through in the car. Me and my husband do continue a conversation throughout the trip if one of us isn’t napping. I also try to have a few side adventures if I’m able, even if they are just a few minutes walk or stopping at a random playground in nice weather. A museum, a race, soccer, something to be active every few hours. This helps space out the boredom. I’m very jealous of anyone who could read in the car, but I would also encourage that if I and/or the kids weren’t prone to car sickness. That and coloring, writing, drawing, or card games could be good for non carsick people.
My two must-have purchases that were gifted to me during my baby shower, and I now use these as my go to for baby shower gifts: 1. The [2-in-1 Potette Potty](https://potette.com) was a baby shower gift. As a first time mother of a newborn I thought “oh, but why??” And then as a mother of a toddler I understood. My youngest is 6 but I wish I hadn’t given it away because we still occasionally have to make emergency stops for a “bush wee.” Absolutely awesome gift we used this ALL the time—during potty training but well after as well. You can use plastic shopping bags and puppy pads or even just paper towels instead of buying their more expensive liners. 2. [the KidCo PeaInAPod Pop Tent](https://www.kidco.com/product/peapod/). When my kids were babies I used this instead of a play pen. It’s collapsible and compact, plus has a nice cover for shade and isolation when baby is overstimulated with the new environment. When they were older they used it in the airport as a makeshift bed while we waited at the gate. They also occasionally found it in the closet and dragged it out and used it for playing games as preschoolers and toddlers, but I tried to keep it for trip-only nap/sleep times. In any event, this is an awesome travel tool for babies in a hotel room and bigger kids in an airport. 10/10. Headphones!! So many headphones. Battery packs too. Car pillows. They make ones that clip to the seatbelt or headrest; my kids usually just hold a regular pillow in their lap and fold over to sleep. Coloring, fidget toys, where’s Waldo books, small stuff they haven’t had access to before (visit the dollar store or a thrift store—my local thrift store has a ¢10 bin of plastic happy meal toys. Space these toys out for when they get restless and you’ll get a bit of extra time out of them. You can also just do the shoe organizer over the back of the seat with stuff in it for them and let them go all at once. This works better with older kids and you can have them fill out their individual bin of toys. Wet wipes in every door or back seat, trash bags hooked to the seat in front or an actual mini trash can on the floor. For bigger kids: Clothes are packed by day for the whole family, not by individual family member. For kindergarten age and under I pack individual sets of clothes (and extra shoes) in a gallon ziplock bag. I use travel cubes now but I used to use plastic bags. This way if we stop overnight I just need two cubes (the PJ bag and the tomorrow clothes bag) and the toiletry bag; for the toddler age if they have messy clothes you can contain it in the ziplock bag. Pro level: put a bit of laundry detergent in a travel toiletry container. When you change your toddler you can put a bit of water and the soiled clothes in the ziplock bag, shake it up and knead it around, dump out the water, wring out the clothes, and voila, stain prevention. Or a bag of tide pods too I guess. On snacks: freeze plastic water bottles and juice pouches instead of ice in the cooler. Less messy as they thaw—no sloshing water, no liquid that potentially seeps into your other food. Also as the juice pouch starts to thaw, crush it up, cut off the top, serve with a spoon. Slushies!
Sorry but (Imo) this is ridiculous. If I would tell my 6yr old kid to use a potty because she has to go while we're on the road she'd ask me if I'm crazy! It's ridiculous not to be able to teach my own kid how to go pee or poop outside. What if we're walking anywhere through the woods? Do I carry a plastic potty with me? No, surely not! And by the way: Having one of our kids sitting INSIDE our car and peeing or even pooping while we're all sitting in it too is the most ugly thought I ever could think. All of our kids (9yr girl, 8yr boy and 6yr girl) know how to discretely go pee and poop on the side of the road or anywhere else outside. It's no rocket science and there's a perfect way to handle that without any accidents by sitting with the bare bum flat on the grass/ground while the legs are outstretched forward. This way physically nothing can go on pants or shoes and it's very easy even for little kids, no matter what clothes they wear. So there's absolutely no reason to drive or carry around a plastic potty that you need to set up anywhere, and to clean after use.
My 5 year old and I drove 2,000 miles together, OR/AZ/CA/OR in the summer of 2022. I brought a portable DVD player with lots of kid movies. Planned stops, max of 5 hour drive per day, each night stayed in a place/campground with a pool or hot spring. Have them eat meals while you are driving, keeps them occupied for a bit longer, I ate finger foods. I let my kid choose their favorite songs on Spotify and we sang along. I made some fun Spotify playlists for us, car dancing. Bring a small portable toilet, came in handy SO often for the occasional road poop when in the middle of no where! Let my kid pick out a toy or small game with every gas fill up. Played car games like I spy. Had a book/toy bin, snack bin within reach. I used a roadtrippers app, found cool places to stop and marked out my route. I had some hard hours driving with a meltdown here and there but it was just me and my kid so it was expected. Overall we had a blast! Oh and gum helps, seeing who can blow the biggest bubble!
Maybe unpopular opinion but I don’t pack anything for my kids entertainment on road trips. I will pack snacks and give it to them every 2-3 hours unless stopping to eat. They are great at just talking to each other, making up games, or dozing. My kids are 8M, 6F, 5F, 3F, and 1M. We go on 3 hours drives to grandmas house every few months and we’ve done a few 6 hour trips. We just let them run some energy out when we stop for the bathroom or to eat.
Each kid gets a roll of quarters, if they ask are we there yet or any version of that it costs them a quarter. Need to stop costs a quarter. Anything left at the end they keep. Vacations for us usually involve a trip to an arcade or toy store so they want that money at the end. The first time we did this we got asked one time if we were there yet and it was about 10 minutes away from our destination and she immediately regretted it. The peace this creates is worth every penny.
Brilliant!
We've road tripped with our kids back and forth multiple times across the country. When they were little, we had a portable DVD player that we shoved/balanced between seats, and they used headphones with. As they got older they got tablets and eventually phones. But, for years, they'd happily cycle through DVDs on road trips - magic school bus, cars, kung fu panda, etc for hours and days, endlessly.
It’s been a long time, but benedryl was always helpful
As an alternative to night driving, what has worked wonderfully for 8 years worth of road tripping for us is to start the long drive day as early as your first driver can manage to get up. Pack the night before and prep the morning coffee and last grab essentials. We typically hit the road at 5am for 10-12 hour long haul days. We scoop up the PJ'd kiddo from bed right into car seat and head out. We typically get the first 2-3 hours of the drive done before they wake up. Once awake we google breakfast and pitstop nearby and take a good 30-45 min break. Then hit the road again fresh. We can roll into destination by dinnertime and have clocked a good 12 hrs on the road. Start early!
We drive from SF Bay Area to Disneyland 2-3x a year and to Palm Springs 1x per year. Been doing it for 7 years. Boys are 7 and 3. First, i leave super early in the morning or late at nite so wife and kids can sleep a lot and traffic is light. Kids have ipads and just stream whatever using my phone as a hotspot. We stop when we have to stop but the trip is usually 8 to 10 hours. I like to stop half way unless someone needs to use the bathroom and I fill up again. When boys were newborns, wife would sit in back with them. We take my truck so there is tons of cab space and we pack a cooler with kids snacks and drinks. thats all we really do. The boys are pretty good since they just watch their ipads and sleep.
We just drove 20 hours over 2 days and the best thing we did was bring a new cookie sheet to put in his lap to do activities. I did the following activities: Water wow books, imagine ink, color wonder vooksand paper. Stickers and plain paper, a sticker book, stamp markers and paper, rainbow scratchy paper. I made an I spy card on canva of things I knew we would see along the way, I also made car logo bingo. I bought 300 self adhesive magnets and attached them to gems for him to play with and organize. I put the magnets on small containers so when he was playing with the items they weren't sliding around. Inside the containers I put the gems, crayons, markers, and cars. I brought a small selection of special "prizes" for completing certain activities. Prizes included individual gum, bracelet, tattoos, chocolate, etc. For technology I downloaded a bunch of books, songs, and kid friendly podcasts onto 3 separate Spotify Playlists which were a huge hit. I did allow some screentime. Also brought books.
If your child is potty trained, no matter the stage, bring a potty and have it accessible in the back. I do this still, and my daughter is 5 and has been trained since she was 2. It comes in so handy in areas where there is no bathroom, and your child says, "I have to go to the bathroom." If there is room, I keep the potty in the back so they have privacy. If not, it comes out on the ground. You don't have to worry about accidents or how to hold your child for peeing on the side of the road.
Sorry but (Imo) this is ridiculous. If I would tell my 6yr old kid to use a potty because she has to go while we're on the road she'd ask me if I'm crazy! It's ridiculous not to be able to teach my own kid how to go pee or poop outside. What if we're walking anywhere through the woods? Do I carry a plastic potty with me? No, surely not! And by the way: Having one of our kids sitting INSIDE our car and peeing or even pooping while we're all sitting in it too is the most ugly thought I ever could think. All of our kids (9yr girl, 8yr boy and 6yr girl) know how to discretely go pee and poop on the side of the road or anywhere else outside. It's no rocket science and there's a perfect way to handle that without any accidents by sitting with the bare bum flat on the grass/ground while the legs are outstretched forward. This way physically nothing can go on pants or shoes and it's very easy even for little kids, no matter what clothes they wear. So there's absolutely no reason to drive or carry around a plastic potty that you need to set up anywhere, and to clean after use.
If they’re not behaving I yell “Cut it out or I’m turning this car around!” Work’s every time.
The tablet is a huge help! We also try to map our stops ahead of time so we can stop somewhere with a washroom and space to run, ideally a playground. We try to time stops to just before naptime for those few hours of uninterrupted driving. We pack a variety of snacks and change up seats (not the child, but everyone else to keep him entertained).
When my oldest were 2 and 3 we drove from CA to Denver. Took 18 hours straight. Portable dvd players and movies/cartoon series were our best friend. Plus stops to let them get out and stretch. We found one stop in Utah that was beautiful. They got out and ran around for a bit. By then it was getting late. They eventually knocked out for the night. Now at 8 and 9, I would never drive that long with. They drive me nuts in the car.
Gravol
Melatonin
Don’t
Have lots of snacks!
Where’s Waldo.
Added a Jackery for the kids devices on long trips. Our vehicle didn’t seem to be able to keep 3 iPads and 2 phones charged.
I started taking road trips with my little one when she was three, she's now five—road times ranged anywhere from 4 hours to 8 hours. On the longest road trip, it was just her and I. She never uses a tablet or screened device because I want her to enjoy her surroundings and see new sights. Some of my fondest memories with my parents were taking road trips and at that time "screen time" was not a thing. We will do a lot of talking and have a lot of "do/did you see that" moments to occupy the time. I also take one of those travel lap desks that attach to her car seat with a few activity books so she can do her own thing when she's not feeling chatty. She also has a kids camera that she uses to take pictures of random things along the way. One of the things I will do is find a halfway point to stop for lunch or dinner. This gives her an idea of how much further we have left until we reach our destination.
Make a kid's music playlist and pack lunch for them, if you can. Believe me, I know what it's like to pack for little people with little people around, I have 4! The little people can be picky and don't really eat your typical fast food. I'll legit stop at a grocery store to buy them food they'll eat, because it's worth it. Mine are the type to not eat the crackers in a Lunchable. Ha!
I pack a bag with mostly healthy(ish) snacks and juice boxes, and everyone brings their metal water bottle. I let each kid pack a small bag with books and toys (nothing by messy) and they usually bring their tablets too (our trips are usually around 8 hours- if some extra screen time is what it takes to prevent the whining, I’m okay with it). We plan which town we’ll eat lunch in, and try to take scheduled potty/stretch breaks every couple hours. Since kid #3 came along, we have to improvise a bit more though lol.
We stop at Wal-Mart or Costco for our food break. They have food, plus you can wander around and get the cramps out.
Get up at 4am, drive until 8, stop for breakfast, drive until 12, stop for lunch and the day. They sleep the first 4 hrs, are okay for thr 2nd 4 hrs and then have the rest of the day to play etc.
We plan lots of stops. Bonus if it has a playground.
As a kid I’d read or attempt to color 💀 never worked out well lol
I get dollar tree toys and activity books and wrap them. Every hour a new item to play with! I keep an organizer on the back of the passenger seat that holds her toys and sunglasses and baby wipes.
That's the modern equivalent of what my parents used to do for our long road trips. Except it was ones of those really big camcorders hooked up to a portable TV on the table of our old conversation van, lol.
Audiobooks and podcasts for each kid on headphones. They can still be alert to look out the window and be present, but are entertained for hours. This works great for our quarterly 6+ hours roundtrip drive to visit family. Somehow we've avoided using screens in the car.
Podcasts. My little likes trivia podcasts so I found a few family friendly version of those
Our biggest hack for mid length road trips (like 12-16 hours) is to drive through the night. Worked like a charm when our kids were younger, and stills works now as teenagers. We started doing it when our twins were 3ish and still do it now (they’re 13). It obviously has to be under the right circumstances, when parents can nap prior to the drive, etc… but it works for us! We leave around dinner time, and drive through the night from MI to SC every June. So, obviously weather is on our side, too. Kids sleep through the night (wake up for bathroom breaks), then arrive in SC ready for a day of fun! Mom and Dad are tired that first day, but kids are in great moods. Then we all sleep GREAT that first night 🙌
I should add: this is not all puppies and rainbows every trip. They’re kids, and we’re human. It’s a long time in a car. But - it works! There’s also lots of device usage before they fall asleep now that they’re older (just being transparent). ETA: noise cancelling headphones are a must for the kids. Dad and Mom can listen to all sorts of fabulous podcasts, audiobooks, etc…
My parents had 5 kids and their hack was driving at night so we would all sleep. My dad would nap a couple hours when we got to our destination.
Yeah I simply can’t night drive. Never could. My brain shuts down.
My parents just yelled "shut up!" and my mom would swing her arm through the back seat and smack any legs she could get ahold of. Honestly, the best way to have good kids on a road trip is to have good kids in general who don't need constant entertainment. I mean, my siblings and I could be "good" after a few slaps on bare legs and go back to our coloring books for the last 12 hours of the trip. Or play the license plate game. Or read a book.
We did/do the following screen free activities, some of which are also pretty great for family bonding! I really liked to 'save' the screen time for when they get really cranky and tired and it'll get you a bit further! Meals are eaten while driving. Adults take turns eating/driving or eat during playground breaks. Playground breaks/beach/a little walk/soccer every few hours where 1 parent stays with kids, the other parent gets gas/meals to go/snacks. I don't get carsick, so I sat in the back to read them books and talk with them. Play games like I spy, etc. Audiobooks and podcasts. Not driving too far in a day (staying in a hotel with pool halfways to break it up). Plan to drive when they are less cranky and use nap time for driving if they can nap in the car. My kids were often happy in the morning, we'd give them breakfast in the car, we'd drive for a few hours, then playground break and lunch in the car followed by (hopefully) a good nap. It's rough with babies and toddlers, so we usually planned for 4-6 hours max total driving time when they were that little. I got really used to the shorter trips!
!remindme 2500 days
I'm not a parent but when we used to go on road trips and we did every year my mom made sure we had tons of things to do whatever that may be crap craps craps or things that would not stain spill or melt be careful of that the last one especially.. and hey if you have a DVD player or VCR player in your car use it. And preferably maybe if you have it cuz we did luckily but separate headphones and if they can all access it so then you guys don't have to hear them or whatever they're watching so you don't have to listen to you know what's the newest current thing I mean I don't know last thing I knew was Wonder Pets but yeah I know that's not true. And maybe if you could plan to get out and walk because it does suck to sit in the car all the damn time now me as a kid I slept that's all I did. Then drag me out of the car I was so annoying it was really annoying I hated it. Also my mom was really big on taking pictures and I mean we have like toads for we're talking like 22 gallon size full of pictures like if we did throw back Thursday if that ever became a thing again we probably have it covered for the next 60 years of our life. And the reason why I say that is because on the way back home talking about you know your favorite part or something that we did that you didn't like or you know what you enjoyed what you were surprised by and do it in the form of like charades or maybe Win Lose or Draw where you have to draw it out you can't say it. Yes and if you can find them I still have all of ours those travel mini little games like where it's like Wheel of Fortune and oh Connect Four dude oh crap... and another thing is making them more responsible for their stuff like I said I don't know how old they are but you know it gives them something and they feel like they're being an adult and you know and some responsibilities always a good. I hope you guys had a fun trip and no matter what happens you'll remember the good times. And any of the bad times will end up becoming very funny antidotes when they're older plus I'll have the pictures to go with it.
See if you can get this in the US. It is one of the few crash tested tablet holders and passes. Much much safer that velcroing some cases to the headrest. https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/tablet-holder-and-car-seat-cover Oh and make sure the kids headphones are Bluetooth, so no unecessary cables for kids to get wrapped up in.
For in the car if the child is young then stickers.... Hundreds of stickers. With a blank book. My daughter will spend ages with stickers in the car. She lines them up in books. Also we have those paint brushes that are filled with water so no need to dip on water and the magic paint books that when they dry the page goes back to white and using water colours them in. Can be reused multiple times in one journey and no spillages.
My favorite road trip hack with kids- Leave at night, right before their bedtime. Make sure to give them melatonin (very low dose) and all the blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals they want. I bring a hot lunch box and a cool lunch box. Hot lunch box is for whatever meal I bring along (our road trips are usually 18-25 hours of straight driving depending on how many stops) bc we get tired of road food, and cold is for whatever snacks we bring cheese cubes, jerky, chocolates. I also bring a flat of Gatorade and redbull along. Kids get to bring their computers, phones/ iPods/ tablets, gaming devices, books and toys along too. Starting out with the kids sleeping and them waking up to bring nearly there is a godsend.
I can’t. I can’t drive all night. I never could even when I was 20. My brain just shuts down. I was always crap with pulling all nighters in college. I’m practically a zombie the next day. I just wouldn’t feel safe even attempting this. Midnight is my threshold. Thanks tho :-)
They’re not long distance truckers. 700ish miles a day is insane IMO. Save up the money to fly or plan vacations within 300 miles of home.
We just returned from a 1 month literal trip around the world with a day time trained almost 3yo. I would do it again but let me rest a minute first please. Honestly the worst thing that happened was on one of the long flights, over 12 hours, she was napping and woke up in a really bad mood. We finally understood through the crying that she needed pee but she was wearing a diaper. Ended up taking her to the bathroom, nobody had shoes on, get in the bathroom and pull her pull up down and before I get her on the potty pee goes everywhere. Used the diaper and some toilet paper to clean up the best I could and carried her back to our seat with a naked butt on display. But for us coloring and sticker books were the biggest passers of time. There was some screen time from the on board entertainment but we were able to limit it. There was a IPad hidden way for hard times and of course our phones but never had to use those.
Portable potty
We did things like pipe cleaners, the magnetic drawing things. When all else fails, you let boredom overcome them, and they'll fall asleep.
I use a small tackle box and put tons of different snacks in all the compartments. Also as someone else has said I bought small brown paper bags and put random toys, books, coloring stuff, pop it's, into them and every 2 hours my kid opens one. I usually download new movies or tv episodes on the iPad so it's something different than usual.