Tips for road trips with children

We have taken several short road trips with all of our children before.  Usually they don't require much planning or foresight.  For our family vacation this year, we planned to drive from our home in DFW, Texas to the cruise port in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Plotting this drive out on an online directions service, it shows 8-9 hours one way.  Because we are traveling with small children, we planned for this to take roughly 11 hours.  The idea of 5 people in an SUV together for 11 hours was enough to make me crazy before we ever left. 

I started reading up on ways to lessen the pain of a road trip with small children and annoying husbands.  Strangely enough, there was similar advice on both subjects!  The following are my tips for a positive road trip experience:

- Gifts, bribes and surprises, oh my! 
I packed a small backpack of small toys and cheap gifts to pass out to the kids in times of boredom and freak outs.  I surprised my teenager with a new pair of headphones before the trip since she would be sitting in the back seat with the two younger kids and I knew that she would need them.  They also came in handy when she wanted to sleep and couldn't handle the music that we were listening to. 

Days before the trip, I made several shopping trips to Target and Walmart for little trinkets.  I bought sticker packages, those bags with small surprise toys in them, a cheap Barbie and Ken set, etc.  We didn't have to use as much stuff out of the backpack as I thought that we would, but it definitely came in handy in stressful navigation times. 

I would recommend raiding the dollar section at any store like that for little toys and play things for the kids on the road trip.  You won't feel bad about them losing or breaking them and they will be excited about new toys, even if they get thrown away at the end of the trip. 

One of my friends on Facebook showed a picture of her traveling recently on a road trip and she had this ingenious travel desk situation set up for her children.  It was awesome!  That would enable the kids to color or read books without dropping pieces on the floor or agitating the neighboring child with their activities. 

- Drive while they sleep
Early in the planning of the road trip, my husband and I made a crucial decision.  We were going to align our travel plans so all of the children would sleep for the majority of the drive to Louisiana.  My mother had planned to take the younger children for the day before the trip so we could finish our last minute prep items and they could visit with them before their big vacation.  My mother and I speak several times every day and I think that this cruise was very stressful for her this time, because she could not check up on all of us until it was over.  The idea of her taking the children to her house was awesome also because it helped me to sleep during the late evening because I would be taking the first driving shift. 

We kept the kids up until we left, which was almost 1am.  They thought this was awesome because normally we make them go to bed before then and they felt special and jazzed up because of all of the energy in the air.  My son was so tired though that he was falling asleep as I was putting him in his car seat in the car.  The plan was to keep them up late, get them in their comfy pajamas, bring blankets from their beds and put them to sleep as we were taking off from the house.  Both of my younger children are still rear facing in their seats, so they are at more of a recline than other more conventional forward facing car seats.  I do think that this would have caused more of the 'dead puppet head' look if they were forward facing and might not have been as comfortable for them.  Warning: This is dangerous for anyone who is a notoriously sleepy driver or who can't stay awake when everyone else in the car is asleep.  Use your own judgment to determine if this works out for your family. 

The kids slept until about 8-8:30am, which put us only about a few hours away from the hotel.  They were well rested and ready for the day with only a bit of grogginess from being in the car.  By the time, that we got to our hotel for an early check in, my husband and I were more than ready for a nap and some relaxation time.  The kids turned on the television and zoned out for a bit while we napped for a few hours.  Trust me when I say that a bit of tiredness on your part is worth it compared to the torture of dealing with a steady stream of "Are we there yet?", "I'm bored", etc.


- Rest and stretch stops are mandatory!
Just like it is not healthy for you to be still in the car for hours on end, it is also not healthy for children to be that way.  Plus, it's uncomfortable!  Your children will be much happier if every few hours they are allowed to get out, run around and blow off some of the pent up steam that has been building.  And you will definitely be happier if they are happier.  I scheduled our breakfast stop at a place that I knew was loud and boisterous and wouldn't mind rowdy children.  They also have a large front lawn and rocking chairs for the kids to use as entertainment.  I also knew that they would eat well and would be full and ready to tackle the remaining few hours drive. 

On the way home, we planned the same thing.  We drove for a bit, then stopped for a restroom break - which seems to always happen with two relatively newly potty trained toddlers.  Everyone got out, used the restroom, stretched their legs, meandered back towards the car and away we went.  It also helps that I have very sleepy car riders.  It doesn't seem like we are in the car more than 5-10 minutes before they fall asleep, but they were definitely ready for the break and the walk around when it presented itself. 

This doesn't have to be a planned out thing.  If you notice that your children are getting antsy, pull off into a rest stop, find a local park, find a McDonalds play place, etc.  Anything where your child can have a break from the car and their seat for a bit.  They should run and stretch and just let loose for 5-10 minutes at minimum every few hours. 

- Have a steady supply of travel friendly drinks and snacks

In a previous post, I mentioned that we brought our own water bottles on our cruise.  We packed three of them in our carry on bag for my teenager, my husband and myself.  We used the other two as drink bottles for the kids in the car.  We stopped and filled up with Gatorade - my children's favorite drink (please don't start about how unhealthy it is - they like it and this trip was a vacation and not a health camp!).  We used the Contigo water bottles.  I like Contigo because they don't spill even when turned upside down and shaken - Silas decided to test that out for them one time in the car.  They also can be used without the straws.  I knew that I was going to have limited access to cleaning tools and wouldn't be able to properly clean out those pesky straws that come with the cups, so we left them at home.  They don't work the same way, but they still function.

We bought NutriGrain bars, chips, tiny bags of cereal, cheese sticks, etc. anytime that we stopped.  I bought anything that I knew was tiny and could be consumed by tiny hands without much assistance.  If I would have been a better preparer, I could have had a stash of prepared snacks for the car ride.  I am making a mental note to do that next time.  But then how am I going to indulge my road trip Combos habit? 

Yes, constantly feeding and giving your children drinks in the car means that you will have to pull over more for restroom breaks, but I find that is better for small kids because that gives them a chance to get out and makes them overall more happy to be traveling. 

I have learned a lot myself from this road trip and will utilize these tips in the future when planning another trip.  Road trips with children of any age is not impossible, but it does require planning, patience and creativity for the continuing sanity of all people involved. 

What are you tips for road tripping with children?