How to Survive a Family Road Trip With Children

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By MommyBear
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Survive a Family Road Trip With Children

Traveling and being with family can be a true blessing at times. Other times it may prove to be extremely tricky, especially if children are involved. It is difficult to predict when or what will make your child uneasy during a road trip. The most you can do is to prepare a survival plan in order to prevent possible havoc before you head out with your family. Here are some ideas you can use to help you survive a family road trip with children.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Play road trip games. There are many games that you can teach your children to play. Some games may be I-Spy, 20 Questions, the License Plate Game, 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon (you can always choose a more popular actor the kids will be more familiar with than Kevin Bacon), or In My Grandmother's Trunk. Be prepared to have more than one road trip game in mind. If your children get tired of playing one or do not like the idea, at least you will have a backup game to play. The best thing about road trip games is that most of them involve little or no props to help you play the game.
Step 2

Plan to travel when you know your children will be sleeping. This doesn't mean you should drive in the middle of the night. If your kids are accustomed to taking naps or you can get them tired enough to take one in the vehicle, this would be a great time to hit the road. They may not sleep the entire trip, but at least you can have an hour or two of survival.
Step 3

Only if you like or allow your kids to watch videos in the vehicle, carry along a portable DVD player if necessary. Bring a mix of old favorites and new movies or television shows on DVD. You may want to screen the contents of the DVD beforehand if it is a new movie to prevent having to stop the movie if there is a scary or inappropriate scene.
Step 4

Travel board games are a great kids' activity. Choose board games that will be easy to play with in the car. You will be surprised at the wide selection of travel board games available nowadays, such as Auto Bingo, Electronic Battleship, Chess or Checkers (with magnetic playing pieces).
Step 5

Card games like Go Fish, Crazy Eights, or Uno can be fun to play in the car. However, with bumps or a sudden unpredictable stop on the road, a pile of cards on the lap can be sent to floor of the vehicle in no time. So, be careful and place loose cards in the pocket behind the driver and passenger front seats, beneath the lap, or tie a rubber band around them. Don't want to deal with loose cards? There are portable electronic card game consoles available with a multitude of games on them.
Step 6

Puzzles can easily keep children busy. Not only will they be playing a game, but they will also be honing their problem solving skills! Some travel puzzles to consider are Tangoes, Rubik's Cube, Sudoku, crossword puzzles, and word search puzzles. To make it more interesting, you can make your own crossword and word search puzzles (see resources below)!
Step 7

Create a new compilation CD for the kids comprised of new songs from their favorite singers, television shows or movies. If you really know what songs they enjoy and do not yet have on CD, you can make the CD and surprise them with it in the vehicle!
Step 8

Bring audio books that you know your kids will enjoy. Not only may your children enjoy the stories, but also they will be enhancing their listening skills and imagination!

Comments

rumblebug said

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on 1/28/2009 These are fantastic traveling tips. My hubby and I tried the DVD in the car trick, but we didn't like the glazed over eyeballs of our little one - and frankly, we missed her! :) I love the suggestions for books on tape, I've never considered that! Thank you!