Preparation and clear boundaries make a road trip with your babies, toddlers and school-age kids easier to handle and much more fun for everyone.
If you dread the idea of piling your kids into the car and traveling, think of the poor mothers trapped in their covered wagons for ten months on the Oregon Trail.
Planning and foresight can make travel not just endurable but enriching.
Here are some kid-tested ways to keep peace in your wagons while you travel with kids.
Just Say No
-
NO sugar allowed before or during the drive. This means:
— No candy
— No gum
— No snack foods with sugar in them
— No sodas
— No Lifesavers
-
NO caffeine allowed:
— No Coke, Pepsi, frappes
— No iced tea
— No chocolate
10 More Sanity-Savers When No is Not Enough
1. Even though sugar may temporarily pacify a whining child, in 90 minutes or less it will plunge this same child into a blood-sugar crisis resulting in crying, hitting, whining or worse.
2. Prepare them with a map, and an idea of how long the journey really is, marking off milestones so they get a feeling of progress. This will cut down on "How much longer?" and "Are we there yet?"
3. Give each child a "travel pack" into which all treasures must fit. If objects are found on the floor of the car, or under the seat, or stuck to the dog (or another sibling), they go into the trash. Call it a "keeping bag." Make sure your child's name, address, phone, and destination information is inside the keeping bag in case it accidentally grows legs.
4. Assign window seats using a chart so you can accurately recall who did and did not get a seat by the window. There should be a rule that you cannot have more children than you have windows. If you make the assignment of windows a boring and tedious task, worthy of a nitpicking award, your children may eventually lose all interest in who gets a window just to avoid listening to your litany of who already HAD a window seat.
5. Take special precautions for the carsick-prone child. Seasick bands really do work, as do dermal patches that release chemicals to counteract motion sickness. Teach your kids some sort of easy signal to tell you they are REALLY going to throw up and that you REALLY need to stop the car or pass the barf bag NOW. It will save a lot of grief and chain-reaction sickness in the vehicle. Restricting fluids sometimes helps, since the ailment is related to fluid in the ears. Antihistamines help, too.
6. Take your pit-stops as seriously as the Unsers do. Every two hours, whether it's raining, sleeting, snowing, or the end of the world–stop the car. Get out. If there's a gas station, empty the kids and fill the tank. If there's nothing out there but "nothing," let them use the car door as a privacy screen. Always carry toilet paper and wipes in the car.
7. Stop to eat and stretch and get at least 20 feet away from each other at least every four hours. You'll like each other a whole lot more at the end of the day.
8. Zero tolerance of name-calling or bad manners.
9. Let each child choose snacks themselves. Encourage sharing. Reward good behavior constantly. Do not tolerate bad behavior.
10. Each child should have a Discman/MP3 Player/iPod with headphones, and lots of batteries. How about listening to "Harry Potter" during the journey? Many libraries lend books-on-tape/CDs for free. It's a great way to read away the miles.
Dear Reader: This page may contain affiliate links which may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Our independent journalism is not influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative unless it is clearly marked as sponsored content. As travel products change, please be sure to reconfirm all details and stay up to date with current events to ensure a safe and successful trip.
Gr8 information. The beach resorts you suggested are awesome! I think Shangri-La Fijian Resort, Fiji is the best for the people having kids.
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I agree 100% with everything in this article! I have had some experience with planning trips to Europe with my own family and compiled a website full of helpful advice. I particularily love your point #6 about packing lightly – each trip we do to Europe (generally about 3 weeks long) is done only with carry-on luggage. (You only need to try and lug giant suitcases full of things your don't need onto trains once!) It's amazing how little you actually need, and your last point is true too – don't expect to do too much. Sitting in an Italian park with gelato is pretty nice…
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That's a great creativity and fun living place for children. I think Henri Landwirth has done a real great job for children knowing the ancient time and with that enjoying the world village of fairy tales and lot more.
This is awesome, the place suits for the vacations with family. It gives more attachment and warmness with the introduction of new culture. I would love to go there with my family.
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Around the beginning of August of 2011 my parents decided to take a cruise to Mexico. At first I didn't want to go because my classes that I had at high school were College level classes and I didn't want to fall behind in them. It was my senior year, and I wanted to be on top of things. I would think that I would want to go and miss days of school, but this time around I was more focused on my education than anything. I fought really hard to stay in Florida, where I originally lived, so that I could focus on my studies, sadly, I had no choice but to go with them.
Upon arrival on the cruise things were ok. Actually it was more than ok. It was something I never experienced before. It was a mixture of different emotions. When I arrived, we had to go through a metal detector for obvious reasons. I thought I was in the clear, but every time I walked through, it would beep and I would be told to go back. I was sent back at least 10 times until the people behind me started to get mad. After about the 12th time, I finally realized what prevented me from going through. It was my belt. I had to take it off, and I thought it would be no big deal, but the minute I took it off, my pants began to drop. I quickly grabbed it, but then the officers gave me back all of my items that were metal, and without thinking I let go my pants and grabbed for the items, and the expected happened. My pants dropped. Luckily I had on long boxer shorts, but what was on the boxer shorts were even more embarrassing. My boxers had Sponge bob on it. What made it worse was that the little girl behind me saw it and shouted in excitement "Sponge Bob" and ran up to me and hugged my boxers. An outburst of laughter changed the angry crowds mood. Boy, was that embarrassing. After the embarrassing moment, it relieved some tension that I had about not going on the cruise. Even I had to admit that it was pretty funny. Eventually we settled in, got comfortable and cruised right along to Mexico.
Now since I live in Florida, I thought Florida was Hot, I was wrong. The instant I stepped off the boat into the sun, I felt as if the sun it self was cooking my face. The only way to describe or even come close to explain how hot it was is to tell you how I felt. The sun was so bright that my eyes squinted so hard that eventually after the trip I got wrinkles on my forehead from squinting so hard. I never felt a heat wave so strong as to where it made me regret ever stepping off the boat. Try standing a hot sun all day with your head hurting, eyes, and forehead. Any shade that I found was heaven for me; cause walking around in the sun was hell. The sun seriously cooked my face in to look a certain way. When I came back to Florida, everyone said that I looked older and angry. I laughed because I knew exactly why it looked the way it did.
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Nice piece of information! May I reference part of this on my blog if I post a back link to this web page? Thanks.
Glad you found Bethany's story on traveling in Rome helpful. You are welcome to quote from it on your blog, but we ask that you please give your readers the link back to the full story so they can get all the details. Then, please email us through the Contact Us form below so we can see your blog!
thanks Kyle
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You're absolutely right, but for most families, these special occasion restaurants are a once in a lifetime occasion.
And foodie NY families also take advantage of the city's 2 annual Restaurant Weeks. They're usually for a month (I know it's called Week!) in Feb-Mar and in summer of 2011, it's from July 11-24. All lunches charge $24.07 and all dinners cost $35, and in the past, these 2 amazing restaurants and many others of their calibre have participated in Restaurant Week.
So, that's certainly a good time to get the kids dressed up and show them an amazing foodie night on the town. Check out : http://www.nycgo.com/restaurantweek for details. And bon appetit!
Per se and La Bernadin are two of the best restaurants in NYC, possibly the world. But dinner for 2 will cost several hundred dollars at each one. They're not within reach of most families.
Please note this 2011 update to hours and admission prices from The Eric Carle Museum:
Hours
10 am–4 pm Tuesday through Friday
10 am–5 pm Saturday
12 –5 pm Sundays
Closed on Mondays * and Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's Day
* Open Mondays during July and August and MA school vacation weeks.
Admission Prices
Adult admission $9
Youth (under 18), Student, Teacher and Senior Admission $6
Family Admission (2 adults and 2 youth) $22.50
You are too funny! I actually wrote 6 guidebooks about Greece for the Frommer series, so yes, I know it pretty well. Changing fast though! Thanks for your comments. Kyle
Are there any East African cruises which combine with a Tanzania safari – http://www.ziarasafaris.com — or is the horn of Africa deemed to dangerous to pass through en-route for cruise ships?
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How does this impact the amount of national parks slated to be shut down?
http://globaltransportation.com – Has anyone heard about a company called Global Transportation? Their website is at http://www.globaltransportation.us – We are looking to do a church trip in Vegas and never heard of this company out of Colorado or specifically Denver.
We have 40 people that want to go on this trip and it looks like they have a tour that we would love to go on…
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Americans are in love with Yellowstone this year! Available space at in-the-park lodges is at a premium and hard to find. A great alternative is Far and Away's 2 nite basecamp (you won't believe the luxury) on a remote shore of Yellowstone Lake. If you want a park experience unlike any other (without the crowds) and one that still has good space availability – it's the ticket.
Thanks for all the great budget friendly tips. My wife and I love taking a bike ride or our dogs for a walk on the Monon Trail. Stop in at BRICS (Broad Ripple Ice Cream Shop) for a tasty treat! Also, we lived here for quite some time before we discovered Holiday Park – they have a great playground for kids.
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