Unless your kids can magically entertain themselves while being stuck in the same position for hours on end without getting upset or needing extra attention, you as a parent probably don’t look forward to taking long road trips with your child. However, if you plan appropriately and have the right expectations in place, both for your kids and for yourself, you can take a longer road trip with your family without coming home with much higher blood pressure than you left. To show you how, here are three tips for taking long road trips with your kids.
Be Prepared To Entertain
To keep your kids happy, you’ll likely have to have quite a few ways that they can entertain themselves while they’re stuck in their seats. According to Pamela Hayford, a contributor to USA Today, packing the games and other forms of entertainment for your kids is maybe the most important part of planning for your successful trip. Trying supplying them with things that will help keep them happy for a longer period of time, like coloring books or magnet games. If you save things like movies or videos for those tough times, you may be able to stay on the road for longer stretches.
Make Things Easily Accessible
If you want your kids to be able to be self-sufficient while in their seats, you have to keep the things they’ll need in easy accessibility either for them or for your passenger. When snacks, drinks, or toys fall out of their reach, the passenger in the car will likely be the one having to reach back and find those small items on those tight spots. And although it’s a good idea to pack a cooler full of food, if you pack that in the trunk, there’s no way you can reach it while driving to help keep your kids settled. So before you buckle up, Erin Gifford, a contributor to TravelChannel.com, shares that you should make sure everything you’ll be needing is just an arm’s reach away.
Think About Your Kids’ Routines When Planning Your Drive
To maximize your time spent on the road and get as far as you can as fast as you can, Darienne Stewart, a contributor to BabyCenter.com, suggests that you sync up your driving schedule with our kids’ normal schedule. If you can plan to drive during their nap time and have them sleep in the car, that’s a few hours you should be able to get under your belt without too many interruptions. And for many parents, driving through the night so the kids sleep the majority of the time just makes sense if your kids are normally pretty needy when in the car.
If you have plans to take a long road trip with your kids are worried about maintaining everyone’s sanity, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do just that.
