Car trips with multiple children

by Rose Marie
(Georgia)

Traveling by car is sometimes a royal pain, especially when you are traveling with more than one child. Now imagine that you are traveling with children close in age and or the same age. You just added to everyone's stress level.

Have Children Pack Fun Activities
Prior to embarking on a long road trip, I always sit down with my kids and have they pack a back pack of their favorite toys. I try to encourage them to pack books, drawing pads, and small items that they can play with in their car seats.

Map Out The Trip
In addition I map out the trip and try to get a good idea as to where the road side stops are so that I have an idea of where bathrooms are for emergencies. Just in case I always bring a portable potty training potty for them and bath tissue. You never know when you are not going to make it.

Snacks Inside the Car
For inside the car, I pack snacks and drinks. Things that they can eat without making a big mess and place some within reach of each child.

Portable DVD Player and Movies
I am lucky enough to have a DVD player in the car, I always bring movies they have not seen in a while, and in fact I have movies that are just for long road trips that they only watch on road trips. This way they are new to them. Seeing how I have three children, to eliminate the "who picks what movie" dilemma, we always go in birth order. So the first born picks the first movie, then middle child picks second and last born picks third.

Good luck and stay safe!

Comments for
Car trips with multiple children

Average Rating

Click here to add your own comments

Dec 14, 2008
Rating

TWELVE DAYS OF VACATION
by: Robbie

Since kids these days seem to have a bit of every thing, keeping their attention is a challenge.

One suggestion is to borrow on an old theme used during the holidays: The Twelve Days of Christmas. Instead, [start a family tradition], the Seven Days of Vacation (or, the Five Days or the Fourteen Days of Vacation coinciding with your actual number of vacation days). Then, have a special surprise for each day of the vacation as a ?reward? for best behavior that to be ?earned? each day. If it?s video games or DVDs your children want, then watch for bargains on them to save by purchasing them on sale weeks or months in advance of your next vacation. These items aren?t bulky as a daily surprise for the kids each day.

As a way to make sure your ?surprises? are exactly what the kids want, [get the kids in on their own ?gifting.?] For a few weeks before the vacation, or as much advance notice of a planned vacation as you have, the kids can ?shop? the toy or electronic ad sections (or whatever-section-of-interest to you children/teenagers) from the many, many sale ads in your local newspaper each Sunday. Have the kids [?make a wish.?] Let the kids know that they will NOT be getting everything on the list, but whatever ?surprise? they get each day of the vacation WILL be a surprise they have chosen for themselves. You would be buying them gifts anyway, most likely, while on vacation.

Just consider this their ?before-bought? gifts they would be getting anyway, and it helps, in a small way, to spread out over several weeks (or months) the cost of these sorts of ?vacation-day gifts/extras? you would be buying your children anyway.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Kid Friendly Travel Tips