Traveling - Road Trips

I keep meaning to blog about this, but I keep forgetting!

After a road trip with my 3 and 4 year old I want to SHARE - SHARE - SHARE the wisdom I gained.

I am a crazy planner.

I crazy planned before this 2-day road trip from Colorado to Virginia with my 2 girls.

Then, at the last minute our government shut down and the hubby got to ride along for 

the ride (at least the first direction).

Planning is your friend.

Here are the "biggies" that really made our 30 hour car drive (twice) enjoyable!

1. BE PHYSICAL ON STOPS

We stopped at a park only once on either trip, right before the sun set.

After hours in the car, they needed to MOVE.

This was 13 hours into day 1

We tried to stop at rest areas as often as possible because there is usually a grassy area.

Every rest stop we had a "run" or "race" to get everyone actually running.

Rest area stops usually lasted at least 20-30 minutes, but we didn't take them often.

I had more than one comment from other travelers about the brilliance of this as they watched my kids run.

2. REINFORCE POSITIVE BEHAVIORS 

I knew our "time out"/ love and logic parenting approach wouldn't get us down the road very quickly.

Although I'm not big on only rewarding good behavior all of the time, a road trip seemed like a good exception to me!

I found this "behavior clip" idea off of Pinterest.

I made a clothespin with each girls' first letter (of their name).

As long as good behavior exists, your clip stays on the visor.

If there is bad behavior, your clip comes down.

At the end of every hour, anyone who has a clip still up gets a reward.

I had a bag full of candy.  They chose their reward.

Before you yell at me for feeding my children candy every hour for 2 days, listen.

IT REALLY WORKS.

We had virtually no behavior issues.

3. LAPDESKS

You could make one or buy one, but these SAVED me on both trips!

I made one with cookie sheets and made a pillow to attach with velcro.

The thing I loved about cookie sheets with small kids is that nothing rolls off.

They could have crayons, colored pencils, etc and easily not drop them.

4. HIGHLY ENGAGING ACTIVITIES

I packed a different activity for every hour.   

I didn't need that many, but I had them all organized in bags to just grab.

It turns out the MOST engaging thing I packed was a blank little journal/scrapbooking pad

from the dollar tree for each girl, along with colored pencils and stickers.

This kept both girls engaged for I'd say 1/4 of our first trip.

I kept a few up front (in the passenger seat on the trip i was along with the girls) 

and the rest in the trunk to swap out at rest stops.

If you use a cookie sheet, you can create games with magnets that will stick and stay!

Charlotte is 4 1/2 and was into games, etc.

Adelyn is 3 and was not.

Fortunately, a couple of books and paper and she was happy!

I bought a few "special" things like color wonder markers and water color pant sheets.

A couple of these special treats would have been fine.

5. KEEP DRIVING!!

We did not stop for meals.

I packed a cooler full of yogurt, uncrustables, fruit, etc.

I also had a 31 bag full of non-perishable snacks.

Many of these snacks (and the uncrustables) were things I NEVER buy.

This added to their excitement value.

Even for breakfast and dinner, we only grabbed the food and kept driving.

With small children eating is this long process.

The lap desks made it possible to eat as we drove.

Oh - and pack LOTS of wipes :)

6. DVD PLAYER

I'm kind of a nut about limiting screen-time.

However, the time NOT to be a nut…is on a road trip.

A friend let me borrow her DVD player for the ride.  A small one is all you need.

We used a splitter and headphones.

That was a rule.  You only watch a movie with headphones.

Ahhhh - sweet silence.

I borrowed a bunch of shows and movies from the library.

We worked on 3-4 hour cycles because that's about how long we could go between potty breaks.

So every 3-4 hour cycle the kids could watch one DVD.

7. WATER ONLY

This is the biggie.

Don't let your kids drink ANYTHING except water.

This sounds horrible, right?

Here's what I know about my kids.  

If they are thirsty, they will drink water.  If they aren't thirsty, they won't.

Any other beverage: juice, sports drink, soda, milk, etc. this rule doesn't apply.  

They will gulp down a gatorade like someone is going to steal it.

Which means…. LOTS of potty breaks.

This will drive any parent insane.

I have 2 preschoolers and we stopped no less than every 3-4 hours when they told me they had to go to the bathroom.  They were amazing.

If this is difficult, reward them with a drink of their choice at your destination.

This 2-way trip has given both Joe and I the feeling that we can TRAVEL by road again.

This is incredibly freeing.

Be free!