“Are we there yet?”
That dreaded question that parents fear the most on road trips! A question that leads to other questions – ‘How much longer? Can I watch more videos? I am bored, what do I do? ’
Let’s face it, you can’t really blame your kids for their impatience. Long road trips are hard – sitting in one position, in a small confined space with fast-flying views (which they don’t really care about) and only their boring parents for company!
So what do you do to make this easy on everyone? We are big on traveling and constantly travel with our son, a 5-year old. Over the years we have discovered some travel hacks that work really well. Here is a list of our top 10 hacks and we hope you find something that works for you.
1. Prepare them for the trip
Start talking about your trip a few weeks in advance. Tell them where you are going and what you are going to do there. Tell them how long it will take on the road. Toddlers and pre-schoolers love this kind of engagement and get really excited about the upcoming holiday.
2. Multiple pit stops
While it’s really tempting to try to beat the Google Maps estimated time, accept it’s not going to happen. Plan for multiple pit-stops so that your kids get enough restroom breaks and time to burn all that pent up energy. We recommend stopping every 2 to 2 ½ hrs.
3. Start driving just before nap time
This works really well for us. When possible, we try to leave in the early afternoons, just after lunch. Our son typically falls asleep for a couple of hours and it gets us some quiet time as we navigate out of the slow city traffic and hit the freeway and get distance under our belt. Our first stop is typically when he wakes up after his nap.
4. Raid your neighborhood dollar store before a trip
For $5-10, buy coloring books, stickers, crayons, toys etc. Every time your child is really bored on the trip, take something new out to engage them. Since this is something they haven’t seen before, they will easily spend fifteen to thirty minutes. When my son was a toddler, he loved spending time just putting stickers on empty pages. Now that he is a preschooler, he loves coloring and doing puzzles.
Photo courtesy @@rawpixel on Unsplash
5. Play car games
Play easy but engaging games. Like ‘I spy” where you try to spot objects out of the window, or ‘Yellow Car” where anyone who spots a yellow car shouts it out ( this can be substituted for any other color – but an uncommon color is better). Older kids also enjoy the memory word game, where each player repeats a string of words spoken by others!
6. Keep them updated on your progress
If you have done 1) then your child is pretty invested in the trip. Tell them the route you are taking and what major cities you will cross on the road trip. Give them some idea of how much of the driving is completed e.g. ‘When we reach Bakersfield we will be halfway to Yosemite’. Then when you hit Bakersfield you can remind your kids that you’re now halfway. This has always worked with our 5-year old and he is able to adjust to how much more time he has to sit in the car.
7. Travel with other families
Nothing distracts kids more than other kids. If you are traveling with other families, try to put kids in one car so that they can talk and play with each other. Time will just fly! (Side effect: As a driver, be prepared to put up with a lot of chatter)
8. Carry easy to eat snacks
You do not want to be stuck with a ‘hangry’ kid in the backseat. Carry snacks that they can munch on so that you are not stopping your car to deal with temper tantrums. For younger kids, avoid foods that require supervision. So no hard candy or nuts coz you don’t want to worry about them choking in the back. Our favorites are cheese, cookies, and sliced fruits.
Berries make a easy snack to give kids!
9. Embrace the TV
Yes, it’s not ideal and yes, you are losing on family bonding time but it’s okay to give in. After all, this is your vacation too! When it gets too much and nothing else is working we let our son watch his favorite movies or shows on an iPad. Prepare for this in advance and download your kids’ favorite shows on the iPad/tablet. Don’t rely on streaming as the data speeds may not be excellent in remote areas or freeways. We always download his favorite shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. using home Wifi. This has saved us many times.
10. Invest in a great travel organizer for the car
We recommend a car seat travel tray – which is a multi-purpose travel organizer designed to hold a tablet and knickknacks that your kid can engage with when they are strapped to their car-seat. Urban Brahma’s car seat is our absolute favorite – you can hold books, crayons, small toys, puzzles, food, a water bottle and an iPad (!). It has a sturdy foam base that acts a little table on which our son can use to place things on. Our son loves selecting things he is going to keep in it before the trip. We have been using it on our recent trips and love how it keeps my son busy for hours.
So these our tried and tested hacks. What do you do to keep kids busy when on the road? Let us know in your comments!
