Recently I took the kids on a great road trip adventure south to experience the snow. It was a crazy undertaking, me, two kids, camping and 3500ks all in two weeks! but it was excellent.
Knowing that I am the explorer type I’ve always been keen on ‘training’ the kids for longer journeys from when they were little. I remember the first large trip we embarked on and everyone insisted the kids would ‘need’ DVD players or TV of some sort. I argued that what’s the point in road trips looking at a screen and missing the world go buy. I spent many an hour bored senseless watching the world go past the window so they should do the same! Well its paid off, the kids are 5 and 7 now, there’s still no screens in the car and our trips are mostly ok. Here is how we do it.
Food
Hungry kids are not happy kids, but then also no one is happy if they are jacked up on sugar so snack carefully. On our last trip, it was mandarin season so we had a shopping bag full of mandies to keep us going, plus a little stash of other nibbles and treats. Also think about meal times, it gets pretty expensive if you always have to rely on roadside food, though it’s nice to keep the local economies going too so spread the love.
Audiobooks
This is the lifesaver, I use them myself for long journeys and boring jobs like painting. Just make sure you find something suitable for all the family, 12 hours of Thomas the tank engine could wear a bit thin! Check your local library for audiobooks on CDs and some even have an online service so you can get them remotely and free straight to your device. A good one to start with is the Harry Potter series, its read by Stephen Fry and really is a great experience.
Games
Yep, eye spy can get a little tedious especially with the smaller kids so try other things. Counting yellow cars is popular though we have started counting Motorbikes and shouting ‘Ahoy’ when we spot one. It’s good to keep their eyes out side and adds a little math’s to the trip. The other benefit is that it trains them to notice motorbikes from an early age helping them to spot them when they driving later in life!
Toys and Books
Now, these cans cause as much trouble as they solve and I’ve been known to threaten throwing them all out the window! On this last trip, they just had a couple of small toys and three books each and it worked well. Too well in fact, I lost them at a campsite only to find them back in the car sitting in their seats of the car playing. And this was after a 5hrs drive day!
Planning & Patience
Lol, I am not the most patient of people but when there’s a big drive you just have to suck it up and get on with it enjoy it as part of the trip. Make sure you have a good plan and plenty of stops for toilet, runarounds and general silliness!
Good luck and remember if you enjoy the road trip, so will they!
