Essential Tips For Surviving A Road Trip With Kids
This is a partnered post.
The prospect of heading out on a road trip is always exciting, isn’t it? Even with kids? Maybe not so much? Although parenting can be challenging at times, it’s always smart to think of the ways that you can make things easier – on everybody! We all know that kids have tiny attention spans. So cooping them up in the car for eight hours? Forget it! Instead, you have to be smart with your family road trips. Whether you’re heading out of town for the weekend or taking a trip across the country, here are the essential tips for surviving a road trip with your kids.
Travel At The Right Time
First of all, you’re going to want to think about the timings of when you travel. Whether it’s mid-morning or afternoon, or even at night. Because if you plan things well, you could actually be traveling at the times your kids’ sleep. This can often be crucial for when you have a baby or toddler. The chances are, however old your kids are, they’re probably going to fall asleep anyway. But if you want to ensure that you can get your kids off to sleep at the right time, timing is everything.
Plan The Route For Ease
The other kind of planning that you need to do involves the route, as well as the timing. Now, you may not be able to help how long it takes to get from a to be, but you can control what happens after they’re safe in their car seat and you’re ready to go. So, plan your route based on the stops you need to make. Schedule in everything from bathroom breaks to snack stops, as you may need to stop for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (or all), along the way to ensure you’re not in the car for too long at a time.
Pack Snacks & Entertainment
But there are ways that you can make this trip easier along the way, just as long as you plan ahead and pack ahead too. Kids often say they’re hungry four million times a day, right? So of course you’re going to want to bring road trip snacks – even if you’re stopping off for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And don’t forget the entertainment too. DVDs will be a blessing on a really long ride. You will also want to have games like Solitaire Bliss and Play Solitaire at the ready on their devices.
Dress For Success
You should also think about dressing them well too. And no, that doesn’t mean in their Sunday best. But in the clothes that are going to be most comfortable for them on the ride. If you want the trip to be whine-free, you need to ensure that they’re not constrained by what they’re wearing, but as comfy as can be.
Play Road Trip Games
And when you’re actually on the road, you’re definitely going to want to play some of the best car games around. From I spy to the license plate game and even a little 20 questions thrown in for fun, you should be able to keep them entertained between naps and DVDs long enough to get you to your destination pain-free.