Are We There Yet?

I was very sad when my best friend moved over 12 hours away. I had never driven more than about 4 hours with both of my children - who are six and three years old. For a few months after my friend moved we kept saying I'd go out there or she'd come up here. It was finally agreed it would be less hassle for me to go with two kids than it would be for her with four.

I remembered the horror's my own childhood trips; of four kids piling into a Ford Taurus with both parents....lots of "Mom, he's breathing on me!" and such complaints still ring in my head. I also recalled our car's DVD Player had broken last summer so I couldn't distract my boys with movies. When considering this trip I took every trick I've learned as a home-schooler, every bribe I've learned as a parent, and the result was a peaceful exciting trip -with no whining!!

So, on a weekend when my husband was going out with the guys, I packed the kids in to the car and hit the road. Even though I got lost, even though I got detained by boarder patrol for 'accidentally' ending up in Canada, my kids and I had a great time.

This was my Car-Sanity checklist:

1) No Night Driving: Even though I had been advised to leave late at night, after the kids' bed time - presumably so they'd sleep in the car - we left at noon. See, my children are a little odd. They have never slept in the car - unless they were ill. So I knew that even if I left at 3 am they'd just end up really cranky from lack of sleep. So, instead, I didn't even tell them about the trip the night before. They went to bed at their usual time and slept soundly - placing them into their usual cheery moods for the beginning of the drive. And I get more stressed out trying to drive at night, always worried about missing an animal or an exit. Our children are extremely sensative to our mods; if I act nervous or grouchy I can't expect them to be happy. So the result was no Night Driving.

2) Party Packs: I packed a back pack for each kid and filled it with easy car games and activities:
* I purchased two kits of Crayola's Color Wonder markers and notebooks - they only color on the special paper, which saved my interior from creative renderings.
* I also packed the usual crayons and a coloring book.
*A pencil and a word find book for my older son.
*I also found a couple Jumbo Magnetic Drawing Boards (an easy no-mess drawing solution).
*Never do we leave home without a few books, ones they can look at without me. For my oldest that meant 1 Magick Tree House book, and a couple of fully illustrated encyclopedias. For the youngster, I packed a few boards books that were mostly pictures or illustrations.

3) Music! People don't realize that a good CD can keep children occupied for over an hour. I brought all of my children's Cd's - KidzPhonics, which sings different phonics songs, Baby Einstein, Children's Rhymes, etc. Any my children could sing along to were best.

4) Story's on CD: I found a couple of Veggie Tale stories on CD, this was almost as good as having our DVD Player working again. This was best during nap time, as it reminded them of me reading them stories as they got tired (my 3 year old even fell asleep!)

5) Take a break: Even though this will lengthen the time of the trip it is so worth it. I stopped each time we crossed a state line. We would find a restaurant and get a table. Even if we weren't hungry the kids would have time to use the bathroom and stretch their legs. We would also walk around a little bit, outside, before embarking again. This also kept the cries for emergency bathroom breaks to a minimum.

6) Snacks: I didn't want to spend much money on this trip so I pre-packed our lunch and snacks so we wouldn't waste it all in fast food joints. Since my husband wasn't going to be along for the ride I kept the food on the passenger seat, and the cooler of juice boxes and water on the floor. This way I could grab them easy without having to stop and the kids could munch on healthy snacks like - baby carrots, apple slices, banana chunks, pickle chunks (for my youngest), For myself I had a couple of oranges already pealed and sliced, a couple of apples, and yes even a bag of chips. Each of the veggies and fruits I had prepared in separate Ziploc baggies - so I could grab one and hand it to the kids, it kept things much cleaner.

Our trip was a great time. I also printed out interesting facts about the states we drove through so I could point them out to the kids when we were at a break.
With a Little creativity and planning ahead you too could have a fun car trip with your children.